EVE  TO  THE 
•RES  CUE- 

ETHEL  HUESTON 


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EVE  TO  THE  RESCUE 


'You  get  nicer  every  day  of  your  life.' 


Eve  to  the  Rescue 


BY 

ETHEL  HUESTON 


AUTHOR  OF 

PRUDENCE  OF  THE  PARSONAGE, 

PRUDENCE  SAYS  SO, 

LEAVE  IT  TO  DORIS.  Etc. 


ILLUSTRATED  BY 

DUDLEY  GLOYME  SUMMERS 


GROSSET   &    DUNLAP 

PUBLISHERS  NEW    YORK 

Made  in  the  United  State*  of  Ametica 


Copyright  1920 
The  Bobbs-Mekrill  Compant 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


qb 


To  Carol 
Who  came  to  us  in  the  form  of  Duty, 
but  who  has  brought  us  only  Pleasure 


M713379 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    In  Defiance  of  Duty 11 

II    The  Cote  in  the  Clouds 21 

III  Everybody's  Duty        30 

IV  The  Irish-American  League    ....  40 
V    Her  Inheritance 59 

VI    A  Wrong  Adjustment 84 

VII    Painful  Duty 98 

VIII  She  Meets  a  Demonstrator     ....  112 

IX    Admitting  Defeat 124 

X    The  Original  Fixer        137 

XI    The  Germ  of  Duty 156 

XII  The  Revolt  of  the  Seventh  Step      .     .  175 

XIII  She  Finds  a  Foreigner 195 

XIV  New  Light  on  Loyalty        214 

XV    Service  of  Joy 226 

XVI  Marie  Encounters  the  Secret  Service  .  248 

XVII    Spontaneous  Combustion 266 

XVIII    Converts  of  Love        282 

XIX    She  Doubts  Her  Theory 301 

XX    She  Proves  Her  Principle 312 

XXI    Her  One  Exception 332 


EVE  TO  THE  RESCUE 


EVE  TO  THE  RESCUE 

CHAPTER  I 

IN  DEFIANCE  OF  DUTY 

44/Tr\0-MORROW  being  Saturday  after- 
JL  noon,"  began  Eveley,  deftly  slipping  a 
dish  of  sweet  pickles  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
covetous  fat  fingers  of  little  niece  Nathalie, 
— "to-morrow  being  Saturday  afternoon — " 

''Doesn't  to-morrow  start  at  sunrise  as 
usual  V  queried  her  brother-in-law  curiously. 

"As  every  laborer  knows/'  said  Eveley 
firmly,  "Saturday  begins  with  the  afternoon 
off.  And  I  am  a  laborer.  Therefore,  to-mor- 
row being  Saturday-aftemoon-off,  and  since 
I  have  trespassed  on  your  hospitality  for  a 
period  of  two  months,  it  behooves  me  to  find 
me  a  home  and  settle  down." 

"Oh,  Eveley,"  protested  her  sister  in  a  soft 

troubled  voice,  "don't  be  disagreeable.    You 

talk  as  if  we  were  strangers.  Aren't  we  the 

only  folks  you  have  ?  And  aren't  you  my  own 

11 


12  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

and  only  baby  sister?  If  you  can't  live  with 
us,  where  can  you  live?'* 

"As  it  says  in  the  Bible,"  explained  Eveley, 
truthfully  if  unscripturally,  "no  two  families 
are  small  enough  for  one  house." 

"But  who  calls  you  a  family?"  interrupted 
the  brother-in-law. 

*T  do.  And  nice  and  sweet  as  you  all  are, 
and  adorable  as  I  am  well  aware  am  I,  all  of 
you  and  all  of  me  can  not  be  confined  to  one 
house*'' 

"But  we  have  counted  on  it,"  persisted 
Winifred  earnestly.  "We  have  looked  for- 
ward to  it.  We  have  always  said  that  you 
would  come  to  us  when  Aunt  Eloise  died, — 
and  she  did — and  you  must.  We — ^we  expect 
it." 

"  'England  expects  every  man  to  do  his 
duty,'  "  quoted  Burton  in  a  sepulchral  voice. 

Then  Eveley  rose  in  her  place,  tall  and 
formidable.  "That  is  it, — duty.  Then  let  me 
announce  right  now,  once  and  for  all.  Burton 
Raines  and  Winifred,  eternally  and  everlast- 
ingly, I  do  not  believe  in  duty.  No  one  shall 
do  his  duty  by  me.  I  pubhcly  protest  against 


IN  DEFIANCE  OF  DUTY  13 

it.  I  won't  have  it.  I  have  had  my  sneaking 
suspicions  of  duty  for  a  long  time,  and  lately 
I  have  been  utterly  convinced  of  the  folly  and 
the  sin  of  it.  WTienever  any  one  has  anything 
hateful  or  disagreeable  to  do,  he  draws  a  long 
voice  and  says  it  is  his  duty.  It  seems  that 
every  mean  thing  in  the  world  is  somebody's 
duty.  Duty  has  been  the  curse  of  civihzation 
for  lo,  these  many  years!"  Then  she  sat 
down.  "Please  pass  the  jam." 

"Oh,  all  right,  all  right,"  said  Burton 
amiably,  "have  it  your  own  way,  by  all 
means.  Henceforth  and  forever  after,  we  pos- 
itively decline  to  do  our  duty  by  you.  But 
what  is  our  duty  to  you?  Answer  me  that, 
and  then  I  guarantee  not  to  do  it." 

"It  is  our  duty  to  keep  Eveley  right  here 
with  us  and  take  care  of  her,"  said  Winifred, 
with  as  much  firmness  as  her  soft  voice 
could  master.  "She  is  ours,  and  we  are  hers, 
and  it  is  our  duty  to  stand  between  her  and 
a  hard  world." 

"You  can't.  In  the  first  place  I  am  awfully 
stuck  on  the  world,  and  want  to  get  real 
chummy  with  it.  Any  one  who  tries  to  stand 


14  EVE    TO    THE    RESCUE 

between  it  and  me,  shall  be  fired  out  bodily, 

head  first." 

"Oh,  Eveley,"  came  a  sudden  wail  from 
Winifred,  "you  can't  go  off  and  live  by  your- 
self. What  will  people  think?  They  will  say 
we  could  not  get  along  together." 

"That  is  it, — just  that  and  nothing  more. 
It  isn't  duty  that  bothers  you — ^it  is  What- 
will-people-think  ?  An  exploded  theory,  noth- 
ing more."  Then  she  smiled  at  her  sister 
winsomely.  "You  positively  are  the  sweetest 
thing,  Winnie.  And  your  Burton  I  absolutely 
love.  And  your  babies  are  the  most  irresist- 
ible angels  that  ever  came  to  bless  and — en- 
liven— a  sordid  world.  But  you  are  a  family 
by  yourselves.  You  are  used  to  doing  what 
you  want,  and  when  you  want,  and  how  you 
want.  I  would  be  an  awful  nuisance.  When 
Burton  would  incline  to  a  quiet  evening,  I 
should  have  a  party.  When  you  and  he  would 
like  to  slip  off  to  a  movie,  you  would  have  to 
be  polite  and  invite  me.  Nobody  could  be 
crazier  about  nieces  and  nephews  than  I  am, 
but  sometimes  if  I  were  tired  from  my  work 
their  chatter  might  make  me  peevish.   And 


IN  DEFIANCE  OF  DUTY  15 

you  would  punish  them  when  I  thought  you 
shouldn't,  and  wouldn't  do  it  when  I  thought 
you  should,  and  think  of  the  arguments 
there  would  be.  And  so  we  all  agree,  don't 
we,  that  it  would  be  more  fun  for  me  to  move 
off  by  myself  and  then  come  to  see  you  and 
be  company, — rather  than  stick  around  under 
your  feet  until  you  grow  deadly  tired  of  me  ?'* 

*1  do  not  agree,"  said  Winifred. 

"I  do,"  said  Burton. 

"Then  we  are  a  majority,  and  it  is  all 
settled." 

"But  where  in  the  world  will  you  live, 
dear?  You  could  not  stand  a  boarding- 
house." 

"I  could  if  I  had  to,  but  I  don't  have  to.  I 
have  been  favored  with  an  inspiration.  I  can't 
imagine  how  it  ever  happened,  but  perhaps 
it  was  a  special  dispensation  to  save  you  from 
me.  I  am  going  to  live  in  my  own  house  on 
Thorn  Street.  Of  course  it  will  be  lonely 
there  at  first,  since  Aunt  Eloise  is  gone — ^but 
just  listen  to  this.  I  shall  rent  the  down- 
stairs part  to  a  small  family  and  I  shall  live 
up-stairs.  Paii;  of  the  furniture  I  am  going 


16  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

to  sell,  use  what  I  want  to  furnish  my  dove 
cote  in  the  clouds,  and  the  rest  that  is  too 
nice  to  sell  but  can't  be  used  I  shall  store  in 
the  east  bedroom,  which  I  won't  use.  That 
will  leave  me  three  rooms  and  a  bath — ^bed- 
room, sitting-room  and  dining-room.  I  can 
fix  up  a  corner  of  the  dining-room  into  a  kit- 
chen with  my  electric  percolator  and  grills 
and  things.  Isn't  it  a  glorious  idea?  And 
aren't  you  surprised  that  I  though  of  any- 
thing so  clever  by  myself?" 

''Not  half  bad,"  said  Burton  approvingly, — 
for  Burton  had  long  since  learned  that  the 
pleasantest  way  of  keeping  friends  with  in- 
laws is  by  perpetual  approval. 

''But  you  can  never  find  a  small  family  to 
take  the  down-stairs  part  of  the  house," 
came  pessimistically  from  Winifred. 

"Oh,  but  I  have  found  it,  and  they  are  in 
the  house  already.  A  bride  and  groom.  The 
cunningest  things!  She  calls  him  Dody,  and 
they  hold  hands.  And  I  sold  part  of  the  furni- 
ture yesterday,  and  had  the  rest  moved  ujK 
stairs.  But  there  is  one  thing  more." 

"I  thought  so,"  said  Burton  grimly.    "I 


IN  DEFIANCE  OF  DUTY  17 

remember  the  Saturday-af temoon-off .  I 
thought  perhaps  you  had  me  in  mind  for  your 
furniture-heaver.  But  since  that  is  done  it  is 
evident  you  have  something  far  more  deadly 
in  store  for  me.  Let  me  know  the  worst, 
quickly." 

**Well,  you  know,  dearie,''  said  Eveley  in 
most  seductively  sweet  tones,  "you  know  how 
the  house  is  built.  There  is  only  one  stair- 
way, and  it  rises  directly  from  the  west  room 
down-stairs.  Unfortunately,  my  bride  and 
groom  wish  to  use  that  room  for  a  bedroom. 
Now  you  can  readily  perceive  that  a  young 
and  unattached  female  could  not  in  conscience 
— not  even  in  my  conscience — utilize  a  stair- 
way emanating  from  the  boudoir  of  a  bridal 
party.  And  there  you  are !" 

*T  am  no  carpenter,"  Burton  shouted  quick- 
ly, when  Eveley's  voice  drifted  away  into  an 
apologetic  murmur.  "Get  that  idea  out  of 
your  head  right  away.  I  don't  know  a  nail 
from  a  hammer." 

"No,  Burtie,  of  course  you  don't,"  she  said 
soothingly.  "But  this  will  be  very  simple. 
I  thought  of  a  rambling,  rustic  stairway  out- 


18  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

side  the  house,  in  the  back  yard.  You  know 
the  sun  parlor  was  an  afterthought,  only  one 
story  high  with  a  flat  roof.  So  the  rustic 
stairway  could  go  up  to  the  roof  of  the  sun 
parlor,  and  I  could  make  that  up  into  a  sort 
of  roof  garden.  Wouldn't  it  be  picturesque 
and  pretty?" 

"But  there  is  no  door  from  your  room  to 
the  roof  of  the  sun  parlor,"  objected  Burton. 

"No,  but  the  window  is  very  wide.  I  will 
just  cover  it  with  portieres  and  things,  and  I 
am  quite  active  so  I  can  get  in  and  out  very 
nicely.  And  when  I  get  around  to  it,  and  have 
the  money,  I  may  have  a  French  window 
put  in." 

"But,  Eveley,  I  can't  build  a  stairway.  I 
don't  know  how  to  build  anything.  I  couldn't 
build  a  box." 

"But  you  do  not  have  to  do  this  alone, 
Burtie.  Just  the  foundation,  that  is  all  I  ex- 
pect of  you.  You  will  have  lots  of  assistance. 
Not  experienced  help  perhaps,  but  enthusi- 
astic, and  'love  goes  in  with  every  nail,' — 
that  sort  of  thing.  I  have  sent  invitations 
to  all  of  my  friends  of  the  masculine  per- 


IN  DEFIANCE  OF  DUTY  19 

suasion,  and  we  have  started  a  competi- 
tion. Each  admirer  is  to  build  two  steps  ac- 
cording to  his  own  design  and  plan,  and  the 
one  who  builds  most  artistically  is  to  receive, 
not  my  hand  and  heart,  but  a  lovely  dinner 
cooked  on  my  grill  in  my  private  dining-room. 
I  have  the  list  here.  I  figured  that  twelve 
steps  will  be  enough.  Nolan  Inglish,  two. 
Lieutenant  Ames,  two.  Captain  Hardin,  two. 
Jimmy  Weaver,  two.  Dick  Fairwether,  two. 
Arnold  Bender,  two.  Arnold  is  Kitty's  beau, 
but  she  guaranteed  two  steps  for  him.  Won't 
it  be  lovely?" 

''To-morrow  being  Saturday  afternoon," 
said  Burton  bitterly. 

**I  ordered  the  rustic  lumber  last  night,  and 
it  was  delivered  to-day." 

"And  you  consider  it  my  duty  as  the  luck- 
less husband  of  your  long-suffering  sister,  to 
lay  the  foundation  for  the  wabbly,  rattly 
ramshackle  stairs  your  pet  assortment  of 
moonstruck  admirers  will  build  for  you  ?" 

"Not  your  duty,  Burtie,  certainly  not  your 
duty.  But  your  pleasure  and  your  great  joy. 
For  without  the  stairway,  I  can  not  live  there. 


20  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

And  if  I  do  not  live  there,  I  must  live  here. 
And  remember.  When  you  want  vaudeville, 
I  will  incline  to  grand  opera.  When  you 
would  enjoy  a  movie,  I  shall  have  a  musicale 
here  at  home.  When  you  are  in  the  midst  of 
a  novel,  I  shall  insist  on  a  three-handed  game 
of  bridge.  When  you  are  ready  to  shave,  I 
shall  need  the  hot  water.  When  your  appe- 
tite calls  for  corned  beef  and  cabbage,  my 
soul  shall  require  lettuce  sandwiches  and 
iced  tea.  Not  your  duty,  dear,  by  any  means. 
I  do  not  believe  in  duty." 

"Quite  right,  sweet  sister,"  he  said  pleas- 
antly. "It  shall  afford  me  infinite  pleasure,  I 
assure  you.  And  to-morrow  being  Saturday 
afternoon,  you  shall  have  your  stairway." 


CHAPTER  n 
THE  COTE  Iti  THE  CLOUDS 

AS  EVELEY  had  prophesied,  what  her 
carpenters  lacked  in  experience  and 
skill  was  more  than  compensated  by  their 
ambition  and  their  eagerness  to  please.  On 
Saturday  afternoon  her  back  yard  was  a 
veritable  bee-hive  of  industry.  The  founda- 
tion was  m  readiness  for  the  handiwork  of 
love,  for  Burton  Raines,  feeling  that  he 
could  not  concentrate  on  business  in  such 
sentimental  environs,  explained  patiently  that 
he  was  only  an  ordinary  married  man  and 
that  love  rhapsodies  to  the  tune  of  tempera- 
mental hammering  upset  him.  So  he  had 
taken  the  morning  off  from  his  own  business, 
to  lay  the  foundation  for  the  rustic  stairway. 
Nolan  Inglish,  listed  first  because  he  was 
always  listed  first  with  Eveley,  appeared  at 
eleven  o'clock,  having  explained  to  the  lofty 
members  of  the  law  firm  of  which  he  was  a 
junior  assistant,  that  serious  family  matters 

21 


22  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

required  His  attention.  This  enabled  him  to 
have  the  two  bottom-most  steps  of  the  stair- 
Way,  comprising  his  portion,  erected  and 
ready  for  inspection  by  the  time  Eveley  ar- 
rived home  from  her  work.  He  said  he  had 
felt  it  would  be  lonely  for  her  to  sit  around 
by  herself  while  everybody  else  worked  for 
her,  and  having  provided  against  that  exi- 
gency by  doing  his  labor  in  advance,  he 
claimed  the  privilege  of  officiating  as  enter- 
tainer-in-chief for  the  entire  afternoon. 

Arnold  Bender  appeared  next,  accompanied 
by  Kitty  Lampton,  one  of  Eveley's  pet  and 
particular  friends.  Although  Kitty  was  ex- 
tremely generous  in  proffering  the  services 
of  her  friend  in  behalf  of  Eveley's  stairway, 
she  frankly  stated  that  she  was  not  willing 
to  expose  any  innocent  young  man  of  her 
possession  to  the  wiles  and  smiles  of  her  at- 
tractive friend,  without  herself  on  hand  to 
counteract  any  untoward  influence. 

Captain  Hardin  and  Lieutenant  Ames  came 
together  with  striking  military  eclat,  accom- 
panied, as  became  their  rank,  by  two  alert 
enlisted  men.    After  introducing  their  en- 


THE  COTE  IN  THE  CLOUDS        23 

listed  men  in  the  curt  official  manner  of  the 
army  and  having  set  them  grandly  to  work 
on  the  rustic  stairway,  Captain  Hardin  and 
Lieutenant  Ames  immediately  took  up  a 
social  position  in  the  tiny  rose-bowered  per- 
gola, with  Eveley  and  Kitty  and  Nolan  and 
the  lemonade. 

A  little  later,  Jimmy  Weaver  rattled  up  in 
his  small  striped  gaudy  car,  followed  pres- 
ently by  Dick  Fairwether  on  a  noisy  motor- 
cycle. They  took  out  their  personal  sets  of 
tools  from  private  recesses  of  their  machines 
and  plunged  eagerly  into  the  contest. 

So  the  afternoon  started  most  auspiciously 
and  all  would  doubtless  have  gone  well  and 
peacefully,  had  not  Captain  Hardin  most  un- 
fortunately selected  an  exceptionally  good- 
looking  young  soldier  for  his  service, — a  tall, 
slender,  dark-skinned  youth,  with  merry 
melting  eyes.  Eveley  never  attempted  to 
deny  that  she  could  not  resist  merry  melting 
eyes.  So  she  left  the  young  officers  and  Kitty 
and  Nolan  and  the  lemonade  in  the  rose- 
bowered  pergola  on  the  edge  of  the  canyon 
which  sloped  down  abruptly  on  the  east  side. 


24  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

and  herself  went  up  to  superintend  the  build- 
ing of  her  stairway. 

The  handsome  one  required  an  inordinate 
amount  of  superintending.  The  other  soldier 
detailed  by  Lieutenant  Ames,  an  ordinary 
young  man  with  a  sensible  face  and  eyes  that 
saw  only  hammer  and  nails,  got  along  very 
well  by  himself.  But  the  handsome  youth, 
called  Buddy  Gillian,  required  supervision  on 
every  point.  He  first  consulted  Eveley  about 
the  design  of  the  two  steps  entrusted  to  him 
for  construction.  He  could  think  of  as  many 
as  two  dozen  different  styles  of  rustic  steps, 
and  he  explained  and  illustrated  them  all  to 
Eveley  in  great  detail,  drawing  plans  in  the 
gravel  path.  It  took  the  two  of  them  nearly 
an  hour  to  make  a  selection,  and  then  it 
seemed  the  style  they  had  chosen  was  the 
most  difficult  of  the  entire  assortment,  and 
was  practically  impossible  for  any  one  to 
construct  alone.  So  Eveley  perforce  as- 
sisted, holding  the  rustic  boughs  while  he 
hammered,  carrying  the  saw,  and  carefully 
picking  out  the  proper  size  of  nails  as  he 
required  them. 


THE  COTE  IN  THE  CLOUDS        25 

''Didn't  you  have  more  sense  than  to  bring 
a  good-looker?"  Nolan  asked  Captain  Hardin 
in  a  fretful  voice.  ''Don't  you  know  that 
Eveley  can't  resist  good  looks?" 

"I  told  him  he  had  no  business  to  bring 
Gillian,"  put  in  the  lieutenant.  "Look  at 
Muggs,  whom  I  brought.  Nobody  notices  that 
Muggs  needs  any  help.  See  there  now,  he 
has  finished  and  is  ready  to  go.  Can't  you  do 
something  to  stop  this,  Miss  Lampton?"  he 
pleaded,  turning  to  Kitty. 

"As  long  as  she  leaves  my  Arnold  alone, 
I  shall  mind  my  own  business,"  said  Kitty 
decidedly.  "If  I  cut  in  on  her  affair  with 
your  Buddy,  she  will  try  her  hand  on  Arnold 
to  get  even.  Captain  Hardin  got  you  into 
this,  it  is  up  to  him  to  get  you  out." 

And  Kitty  heartlessly  left  the  pergola  and 
went  up  to  the  rustic  steps  to  hold  the  ham- 
mer for  Arnold. 

Then  Captain  Hardin,  after  rapidly  drink- 
ing three  glasses  of  iced  lemonade  to  drown 
his  chagrin  and  to  strengthen  his  flagging 
courage,  left  the  cozy  pergola  which  had  no 
attraction  for  any  of  them  with  Eveley  out 


26  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

at  work  on  the  rustic  stairway,  and  went  up 
to  the  corner  where  she  and  Buddy  Gillian 
were  carefully  and  conscientiously  matching 
bits  of  rustic  lumber. 

"I  do  not  think  I  should  keep  you  any 
longer,  Gillian,  since  Muggs  is  ready  to  go,*' 
he  said  kindly.  "I  can  finish  this  myself  now, 
thank  you.'* 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Buddy  Gillian  courteously, 
and  stood  up.  Then  to  Eveley,  "Shall  I  gather 
up  the  scraps.  Miss  Ainsworth,  and  tidy  the 
lawn  for  you?  It  is  pretty  badly  littered. 
Only  too  glad  to  be  of  service,  if  I  may." 

"Oh,  thank  you,  Mr.  Gillian,  that  is  sweet 
of  you,"  said  Eveley  gratefully.  "Suppose  we 
begin  down  in  that  corner  by  the  rose  per- 
gola, and  gather  up  the  scraps  as  we  come 
this  way.  I'll  carry  this  basket,  and  you  can 
do  the  picking." 

But  even  this  humble  field  of  usefulness 
was  denied  Private  Gillian,  for  Lieutenant 
Ames  came  out  from  the  pergola  and  said 
with  official  briskness,  "Oh,  never  mind  that, 
Gillian.  I  can  help  Miss  Ainsworth  with  it. 
You'd  better  run  along  with  Muggs  and  en- 


THE  COTE  IN  THE  CLOUDS        27 

joy  your  liberty  period.  Much  obliged  to  you, 
I  am  sure." 

So  the  handsome  Buddy  looked  deep  into 
Eveley's  eyes,  and  sighed.  Eveley  held  out 
her  hand. 

"You  have  done  just  beautifully,"  she 
said,  **and  helped  me  so  much.  And  when  are 
you  coming  to  tell  me  the  rest  of  that  thrill- 
ing story  of  your  life  in  the  trenches?" 

"The  question  is,  when  may  I?" 

"Well,  Tuesday  evening?  Or  can  you  get 
off  on  Tuesday?" 

"Oh,  yes,  since  the  war  is  over  we  can  get 
off  any  night.  Tuesday  will  suit  me  fine." 

"Sorry,  Gillian,"  put  in  Captain  Hardin 
grimly.  "But  unfortunately  I  have  arranged 
for  a  company  school  on  Tuesday  night — to 
be  conducted  by  Lieutenant  Carston." 

Gillian  turned  his  beautiful  eyes  on  Eveley, 
eyes  no  longer  merry  but  sad  and  wistful. 

"Let  m.e  see,"  puzzled  Eveley  promptly. 
"Could  you  come  to-morrow  night  then,  Mr. 
Gillian?  Captain  won't  mind  changing  with 
you,  I  know,  and  he  can  come  on  Tuesday. 
Captains  can  always  get  away,  can't  they  ?  Is 


28  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

that  all  right? — ^Then  to-morrow  evening, 
about  eight.  And  I  will  have  a  little  evening 
supper  all  ready  for  you.  Good-by." 

After  he  had  gone  she  said  to  the  captain 
apologetically,  "Hasn't  he  wonderful  eyes? 
And  I  knew  he  must  be  quite  all  right  for  me 
to  know,  or  you  would  never  have  introduced 
him." 

Taken  all  in  all,  only  Kitty  Lampton  and 
Eveley  considered  the  raising  of  the  rustic 
stairway  an  entire  success,  although  there 
was  much  light  talk  and  laughter  as  they  ate 
the  dainty  supper  the  girls  had  prepared  for 
them  in  the  Cloud  Cote,  as  Eveley  had  al- 
ready christened  her  home  above  the  earth. 
But  the  men,  with  the  exception  of  Nolan, 
were  doomed  to  disappointment. 

When  Dick  Fairwether  asked  her  to  go  to 
a  movie  with  him  in  the  evening,  and  when 
Jimmy  Weaver  invited  her  to  go  for  a  night 
drive  with  him  along  the  beach,  and  when 
Captain  Hardin  suggested  that  she  accom- 
pany him  to  the  Columbine  dance  at  the  San 
Diego,  and  when  Lieutenant  Ames  wanted  to 
make  a  foursome  with  Kitty  and  Arnold  to 


THE  COTE  IN  THE  CLOUDS        29 

go  boating,  she  said  most  regretfully  to  each, 
— "Isn't  it  a  shame  ?  But  my  sister  is  having 
some  kind  of  a  silly  club  there  to-night,  and 
I  promised  to  go.'' 

But  to  Nolan,  very  secretly  she  whispered: 
"Now  you  trot  along  to  the  office  and  work 
and  when  I  am  ready  to  come  home  I  will 
phone  you  to  come  and  get  me.  And  we  will 
initiate  the  Cloud  Cote  all  by  ourselves." 

So  the  little  party  broke  up  almost  im- 
mediately after  supper,  with  deep  avowals 
of  gratitude  on  the  part  of  Eveley,  and 
equally  deep  assurances  of  pleasure  and  good 
will  on  the  part  of  the  others.  After  they  had 
gone,  as  Eveley  inspected  her  staiiway  alone, 
she  was  comforted  by  the  thought  that  she 
could  fairly  smother  it  with  vines  and  all 
sorts  of  creeping  and  climbing  things,  and 
the  casual  comer  would  not  notice  how  funny 
and  wabbly  it  was.  But  as  she  went  gingerly 
down,  clinging  desperately  to  the  rail  on  both 
sides,  she  determined  to  take  out  an  acci- 
dent policy  immediately,  with  a  special  clause 
governing  rustic  stairways. 


CHAPTER  III 


EVERYBODY'S  DUTY 


DUE  to  the  old-fashioned,  rambling  style 
of  the  house,  the  rustic  stairway  did 
not  really  detract  from  its  beauty.  And  as 
there  were  already  clambering  vines  and 
roses  in  profusion,  an  extra  arbor  more  or 
less,  could,  as  Eveley  claimed,  pass  without 
serious  comment.  Although  the  house  was 
old,  it  was  still  exquisitely  beautiful,  with  its 
cream  white  pillars  and  columns  showing  be- 
hind the  mass  of  green.  And  the  lawn,  which 
was  no  lawn  but  only  a  natural  park  running 
riot  with  foliage  coaxed  into  endless  lovers* 
nooks  and  comers,  was  a  fitting  and  marvel- 
ously  beautiful  setting  for  it. 

The  gardens  were  in  the  shape  of  a  tri- 
angle, with  conventional  paved  streets  on  the 
north  and  west,  but  on  the  east  and  south 
they  drifted  away  into  the  shadowy  canyon 
which  stretched  down  almost  to  the  bay,  and 
30 


EVERYBODY'S  DUTY  31 

came  out  on  the  lower  streets  of  the  water- 
front. 

Eveley  stood  on  her  rustic  stairway  and 
gloated  over  it  lovingly, — the  rambling  house, 
the  rambling  gardens,  the  beautiful  rambling 
canyon,  and  then  on  below  to  the  lights  on 
the  bay,  clustered  together  in  companionable 
groups. 

'"Loma  Portal,  Fort  Rosecranz,  North  Is- 
land, Coronado,  and  the  boats  in  the  bay," 
she  whispered  softly,  pointing  slowly  to  the 
separate  groups.  And  her  eyes  were  very 
warm,  for  she  loved  each  separate  light  in 
every  cluster,  and  she  was  happy  that  she 
was  at  home  again,  in  the  place  that  had 
been  home  to  her  since  the  days  of  her  early 
memory. 

Eveley's  mother  had  been  born  in  the  house 
on  Thorn  Street,  as  had  her  sister,  Eloise, 
the  aunt  with  w^hom  the  girls  had  lived  for 
many  years.  And  after  the  death  of  her  hus- 
band, when  Eveley  was  a  tiny  baby,  Emily 
Ainsworth  had  taken  her  two  girls  and  gone 
back  to  live  with  her  sister  in  the  family 
home.   There  a  few  years  later  she  too  had 


32  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

passed  away,  leaving  her  children  in  the  ten- 
der, loving  hands  of  Aunt  Eloise.  And  the 
years  had  passed  until  there  came  a  time 
when  Winifred  was  married,  and  Eveley  and 
her  aunt  lived  on  alone,  though  always 
happily. 

But  investments  had  gone  badly,  and  re- 
turns went  down  as  expenses  went  up.  So 
Eveley  studied  stenography,  and  took  genu- 
ine pleasure  in  her  career  as  a  business  girl. 
With  her  salary,  and  their  modest  income, 
the  two  had  managed  nicely.  Then  when 
Aunt  Eloise  went  out  to  join  her  sister,  the 
Thorn  Street  house  was  left  to  Eveley,  and 
other  property  given  to  Winifred  to  compen- 
sate. So  that  to  Eveley  it  was  only  coming 
home  to  return  to  the  big  house  and  the 
rambling  gardens.  But  to  meet  the  expenses 
of  maintenance  it  was  necessary  that  part  of 
the  large  house  should  be  rented. 

Eveley,  always  adaptable,  moved  serenely 
into  her  cote  at  the  head  of  the  stairs,  and 
felt  that  life  was  still  kind  and  God  was 
good,  for  this  was  home,  and  it  was  hers,  and 
she  had  come  to  stay. 


EVERYBODY'S  DUTY  33 

She  almost  regretted  the  impulsive  prom- 
ise to  her  sister  that  drew  her  out  of  her 
dwelling  on  the  first  night  of  her  tenancy. 
Not  only  did  she  begrudge  the  precious  first- 
night  hours  away  from  her  pretty  cote  in  the 
clouds,  but  she  was  not  charmed  with  the 
arrangement  for  the  evening.  She  was  an 
ardent  devotee  of  clubs  of  action,  rowing, 
tennis,  country,  dancing  and  golf,  but  for 
that  other  type  of  club,  which  she  described 
as  "where  a  lot  of  women  sit  around  with 
their  hats  on,  and  drink  tea,  and  ha^^e  some- 
body make  speeches  about  things,"  she  felt 
no  innate  tenderness. 

It  was  really  a  trick  on  the  part  of  Winifred 
that  procured  the  promise  of  attendance.  For 
Eveley  had  been  allowed  to  believe  they  were 
going  to  play  cards  and  that  there  would  be 
regular  refreshments  of  substance,  and  per- 
haps a  little  dancing  later  on.  All  this  had 
been  submitted  to  by  inference,  without  a 
word  of  direct  confirmation  from  Winifred, 
who  had  a  conscience. 

So  it  was  that  Eveley  Ainsworth,  irre- 
proachably attired  in  a  new  georgette  blouse 


34  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

and  satin  skirt,  betook  herself  to  her  sister's 
home  for  an  evening  meeting  of  the  Current 
Club.  And  it  was  a  decided  shock  to  find  that 
neither  a  social  game  nor  a  soul-restoring 
midnight  supper  were  in  store  for  her,  but 
the  proverbial  tea  and  speeches.  She  re- 
signed herself,  however,  to  the  inevitable,  and 
shrank  back  as  obscurely  as  possible  into  a 
dark  corner  where  she  might  muse  on  the 
charms  of  Nolan,  the  beauties  of  the  new 
B,uddy  Gillian,  the  martial  dignity  of  Captain 
Hardin,  and  the  appeals  of  all  the  rest,  to  her 
frivolous  heart's  content. 

In  this  manner,  she  passed  through  the 
first  part  of  the  evening  very  comfortably, 
only  dimly  aware  that  she  was  floundering  in 
the  outskirts  of  a  perfect  maze  of  big  words 
dealing  with  Americanization,  which  Eveley 
vaguely  understood  to  be  something  on  the 
order  of  standing  up  to  The  Star  Spangled 
Banner,  and  marching  in  parades  with  a  flag 
and  shouting  *'Hurrah  for  the  President,"  in 
the  presence  of  foreigners. 

The  third  speaker  was  a  minister,  and  min- 
isters are  accustomed  to  penetrating  the  blue 


EVERYBODY'S  DUTY  35 

mazes  of  mental  abstraction.  This  minister 
did.  He  began  by  telling  three  funny  stories, 
and  Eveley,  who  loved  to  exercise  her  sense 
of  humor,  came  back  to  the  Current  Club 
and  joined  their  laughter. 

In  the  very  same  breath  with  which  he 
ended  the  last  funny  story,  he  began  breezily 
discoursing  on  everybody's  duty  as  a  loyal 
American.  Eveley,  to  whom  the  word  "duty" 
was  the  original  red  rag,  sniffed  inaudibly  but 
indignantly  to  herself.  And  while  she  was 
still  sniffing  the  speaker  left  "duty  as  Amer- 
ican citizens"  far  behind,  and  was  deep  in  the 
intricacies  of  Americanization.  Eveley  found 
to  her  surprise  that  this  was  something  more 
than  saluting  the  flag  and  shouting.  She 
grew  quite  interested.  It  seemed  that  ordi- 
nary, regular  people  were  definitely,  deter- 
minedly working  with  little  scraps  of  the  for- 
eign elements,  Chinese,  Mexican,  Russian, 
Italian,  yes,  even  German, — though  Eveley 
considered  it  asking  entirely  too  much,  even 
of  Heaven,  to  elevate  shreds  of  German  in- 
famy to  American  standards.  At  any  rate, 
people   were   doing   this   thing,   taking   the 


36  EVE   TO  THE   RESCUE 

pliant,  trusting  mind  of  the  foreigner,  petting 
it,  training  it,  coaxing  it, — until  presently  the 
flotsam  and  jetsam  of  the  Orient,  of  war-torn 
Europe,  of  the  islands  of  the  sea,  of  all  the 
world,  should  be  Americanized  into  union, 
and  strength,  and  loyalty,  and  love. 

It  fascinated  Eveley.  She  forgot  that  it 
was  her  duty  as  a  patriotic  American.  She 
forgot  that  nobody  had  any  business  doing 
anything  but  minding  one's  own  business. 
She  fairly  burned  to  have  a  part  in  the  work 
of  assimilation.  Her  eyes  glowed  with  eager- 
ness, her  cheeks  flushed  a  vivid  scarlet,  her 
lips  trembled  with  the  ecstatic  passion  of 
loyalty. 

In  the  open  discussion  that  followed  after 
the  last  address,  Eveley  suddenly,  quite  to 
her  ov/n  surprise,  found  that  she  had  some- 
thing to  say. 

"But — isn't  it  mostly  talk?"  she  asked, 
half  shyly,  anxious  not  to  offend,  but  unable 
to  repress  the  doubt  in  her  mind.  "It  does 
not  seem  practical.  You  say  we  must  assim- 
ilate the  foreign  element.  But  can  one  assim- 
ilate a  foreign  element  ?  Doesn't  the  fact  that 


EVERYBODY'S  DUTY  37 

it  is  foreign — make  it  impossible  of  assimila- 
tion? Oh,  I  know  we  have  to  do  something, 
but  as  long  as  we  are  foreigners,  we  to  them, 
and  they  to  us, — what  can  we  do  ?" 

The  deadly  silence  that  greeted  her  words 
frightened  her,  yet  somehow  gave  her  cour- 
age to  go  on.  She  must  be  saying  something 
rather  sensible,  or  they  would  not  pay  at- 
tention, 

*We  can  not  assimilate  food  elements  that 
are  foreign  to  the  digestive  organs,"  she  said. 
"Labor  and  capital  have  warred  for  years, 
and  neither  can  assimilate  the  other.  Look  at 
domestic  conditions  here, — in  the  home,  you 
know.  People  get  married, — men  and  women, 
of  opposing  types  and  interests  and  stand- 
ards. And  they  can  not  assimilate  each 
other,  and  the  divorce  courts  are  running 
rampant.  It  does  no  good  to  say  assimila- 
tion is  a  duty,  if  it  is  impossible.  And  it 
seems  to  be." 

"Your  criticism  is  destructive.  Miss  Ains- 
worth,"  said  a  learned  professor  who  had 
spoken  first,  and  Eveley  was  sorry  now  that 
she  had  not  listened  to  him.    "Destructive 


38  EVE   TO    THE    RESCUE 

criticism  is  never  helpful.  Have  you  any- 
thing constructive  to  offer?" 

"Well,  maybe  it  is  theoretic,  also,"  said 
Eveley  smiling  faintly,  and  although  the 
smile  was  faint,  it  was  Eveley's  own,  which 
could  not  be  resisted.  "But  duty  isn't  big 
enough,  nor  adaptable  enough,  nor  winning 
enough.  There  must  be  some  stronger  force 
to  set  in  action.  Nobody  could  ever  win  me 
by  doing  his  duty  by  me.  It  takes  something 
very  intimate,  very  direct,  and  very  personal 
really  to  get  me.  But  if  one  says  a  word,  or 
gives  me  a  look, — just  because  he  under- 
stands me,  and  likes  me, — ^well,  I  am  his 
friend  for  life.  It  takes  a  personal  touch,  a 
touch  that  is  guided  not  by  duty  but  by  love. 
So  I  think  maybe  the  foreign  element  is  the 
same  way.  We've  got  to  sort  of  chum  up  with 
it,  and  find  out  the  nice  things  in  it  first. 
They  will  find  the  nice  things  in  us  after- 
ward." 

"But  as  you  say,  Miss  Ains worth,  isn't  this 
only  talk?  How  would  you  go  about  chum- 
ming up  with  the  foreign  element?" 


EVERYBODY'S  DUTY  39 

"I  do  not  know,  Professor,"  she  said 
brightly.  "But  I  think  it  can  be  done.  And  I 
think  it  has  to  be  done,  or  there  can  not  be 
any  Americanization." 

"Well,  are  you  v/illing  to  try  your  own 
plan?  We  are  conducting  classes,  games, 
studies,  among  the  foreigners,  working  with 
them,  teaching  them,  studying  them.  We  call 
this  our  duty  as  loyal  Americans.  You  say 
duty  is  not  enough,  and  you  want  to  get 
chummy  with  them.  Will  you  try  getting 
chummy  and  see  where  you  come  out?" 

Eveley  looked  fearfully  about  the  room,  at 
the  friendly  earnest  faces.  "I — I  feel  awfully 
quivery  in  my  backbone,"  she  faltered.  "But 
I  will  try  it.  You  get  me  the  foreigners,  and 
I  will  practise  on  them.  And  if  I  can't  get 
chummy  with  them,  and  like  them,  why,  I 
shall  admit  you  are  right  and  I  will  help  to 
teach  them  spelHng,  and  things." 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  IRISH-AMERICAN  LEAGUE 

SEVERAL  days  passed  quietly.  Eveley 
went  serenely  about  her  work,  and  from 
her  merry  manner  one  would  never  have  sus- 
pected the  fires  of  Americanization  smolder- 
ing in  her  heart  ready  for  any  straying 
breeze  of  opportunity  to  fan  them  into 
service. 

She  was  finding  it  deliciously  pleasant  to 
live  in  a  Cloud  Cote  above  a  bride  and  groom. 
Mrs.  Bride,  as  Eveley  fondly  called  her,  was 
the  dainty,  flowery,  fluttery  creature  that 
every  bride  should  be.  And  Mr.  Groom  was 
the  soul  of  devotion  and  the  spirit  of  tender- 
ness. To  the  world  in  general,  they  were 
known  as  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Andrew  Severs,  but 
to  Eveley,  they'  were  Mrs.  Bride  and  Mr. 
Groom.  It  served  to  keep  their  new  and  shin- 
ing matrimonial  halo  in  mind. 

She  was  newly  glad  every  morning  that  the 
young  husband  had  to  start  to  his  work  be- 
40 


THE  IRISH-AMERICAN  LEAGUE    41 

fore  she  left  home  for  hers.  When  she  heard 
the  front  door  open  down-stairs,  she  ran  to 
her  window,  often  with  a  roll  or  her  coffee 
cup  in  her  hand,  to  witness  the  departure, 
which  to  her  romantic  young  eyes  was  a  real 
event.  Mrs.  Bride  always  stood  on  the  porch 
to  watch  him  on  his  way  to  the  car  until  he 
was  out  of  sight.  Sometimes  she  ran  with 
him  to  the  corner,  and  always  before  he  made 
the  turn  he  waved  her  a  final  good-by. 

It  was  very  peaceful  and  serene.  It  seemed 
hard  to  believe  that  recently  there  had  been 
a  tremendous  war,  and  that  even  now  the 
world  was  writhing  in  the  throes  of  political 
and  social  upheaval  and  change.  In  every 
country,  men  and  women  were  grappling 
with  great  industrial  problems,  and  there 
were  ominous  rumblings  and  threatening 
murmurs  from  society  in  revolution.  But  in 
the  rambling  white  house  in  the  great  green 
gardens  at  the  top  of  the  canyon,  one  only 
knew  that  it  was  springtime  in  southern  Cali- 
fornia, that  the  world  was  full  of  gladness 
and  peace  and  joy,  and  that  love  was  para- 
mount. 


42  EVE    TO   THE   KESCUE 

Several  days, — and  then  one  evening  there 
came  the  call  of  the  telephone — the  reveille 
of  Americanization  in  the  person  of  Eveley 
Ainsworth.  A  class  of  young  foreign  lads  had 
been  gathered  and  would  meet  Eveley  at  the 
Service  League  that  evening.  No  instructions 
were  given,  no  suggestions  were  forthcoming. 
Eveley  had  asked  for  foreigners  with  whom 
she  could  get  chummy  and  call  it  love.  Here 
were  the  foreigners.  The  rest  of  the  plan 
was  Eveley's  own. 

She  was  proud  of  her  mature  comprehen- 
sion of  the  needs  of  reconstruction,  and  of 
her  utter  gladness  to  assist.  She  felt  that  it 
signified  something  rather  fine  and  worth 
while  in  her  character,  and  she  took  no  little 
pleasure  in  the  prospect  of  active  service. 
She  went  about  her  work  that  day  wrapped 
in  a  veil  of  mystery,  her  mind  delving  deep 
into  the  ideals  of  American  life.  She  care- 
fully elaborated  several  short  and  spicy 
stories,  of  strong  moral  and  patriotic  tone, 
emphasizing  the  nobility  of  love  of  country. 
And  that  evening  she  stood  before  her  mirror 
for  a  long  time,  practising  pretty  flowery 


THE  IRISH-AMERICAN  LEAGUE    43 

phrases  to  be  spoken  with  a  most  winsome 
smile.  Remembering  that  her  subjects  were 
boys,  and  that  boys  are  young  men  in  the 
making,  she  donned  her  daintiest,  shimmer- 
iest  gown,  and  carefully  coaxed  the  enticing 
little  curls  into  prominence.  Then  with  a  final 
patriotic  smile  at  herself  in  the  mirror,  she 
carefully  climbed  through  the  window  and 
crossed  the  roof  garden  to  the  rustic  stau'- 
way. 

As  she  walked  briskly  up  Albatross  to  Wal- 
nut, then  to  Fourth  where  she  took  the  car, 
and  all  the  w^ay  down-to\vai  she  was  carefully 
rehearsing  her  stories  and  the  most  effective 
modes  of  presenting  them.  She  knew  the 
rooms  of  the  Service  League  well,  having 
been  there  on  many  occasions  while  there 
was  still  war  and  there  were  service  men  by 
the  hundreds  to  be  danced  with.  Half  a  dozen 
men  and  boys  were  lounging  at  the  curb- 
stone, and  they  eyed  her  curiously,  grimly, 
Eveley  thought.  She  wondered  if  they  knew 
she  had  come  there  to  inspire  them  v/ith  love 
of  the  great  America  which  they  must  learn 
to   call  home.    She   straightened   her   slim 


44  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

shoulders  at  the  thought,  and  walked  into  the 
building  with  quite  a  martial  air,  as  became 
one  on  this  high  mission  bent. 

A  keen-eyed,  quick-speaking  woman  met 
her  at  the  elevator,  and  led  her  back  into 
what  she  called  ''your  corner"  of  the  room. 
Evidently  the  room  was  divided  into  count- 
less corners,  for  several  groups  were  clustered 
together  in  different  sections.  But  Eveley 
gave  them"  only  a  fleeting  glance.  Her  heart 
and  soul  were  centered  on  the  group  before 
her,  eight  boys,  dark-eyed,  dark-skinned,  of 
fourteen  years  or  thereabouts.  They  looked 
at  Eveley  appraisingly,  as  we  always  look 
on  those  who  come  to  do  us  good.  Eveley 
looked  upon  them  with  tender  solicitude,  as 
philanthropists  have  looked  on  their  subjects 
since  the  world  was  bom. 

The  introductions  over,  the  keen-eyed  one 
hurried  away  and  Eveley  faced  her  sub- 
Americans. 

Then  she  smiled,  a  winsome  smile  before 
which  stronger  men  than  they  have  fallen. 
But  they  were  curiously  unsmiling  in  re- 
sponse.  Their  eyes  remained  appraising  al- 


THE  IRISH-AMERICAN  LEAGUE    45 

most  to  the  point  of  open  suspicion.  Perhaps 
her  very  prettiness  aroused  the  inherent  op- 
position of  the  male  creature  to  female  up- 
lift. 

Eveley  began,  however,  bravely  enough, 
and  told  them  her  first  and  prettiest  story  of 
sacrifice  and  country  love.  They  listened 
gravely,  but  they  were  not  thrilled.  Strug- 
gling against  a  growing  sense  of  incom- 
petence, Eveley  talked  on  and  on,  one  story 
after  another,  pretty  word  following  pretty 
word.  But  each  word  fell  alike  on  stony 
ground.  They  sat  like  graven  images,  except 
for  the  bright  suspicious  gleam  of  the  dark 
eyes. 

Finally  Eveley  stopped,  and  turned  to 
them.  "What  do  you  think  about  it?"  she  de- 
manded. ''You  v/ant  to  be  Americans,  don't 
you?  You  want  to  learn  what  being  an  Amer- 
ican means,  don't  you  ?"  Her  eyes  were  fast- 
ened appealingly  on  a  slender  Russian  lad, 
slouching  in  his  chair  at  the  end  of  the  row. 
"You  want  to  be  an  American,  I  know." 

Suddenly  the  slim  lithe  figure  straightened, 
and   the    dark   brov/s    drew   together   in    a 


46  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

frown.  "What  are  you  getting  at?"  came  in 
a  sharp  tone.  "I'm  an  American,  ain't  I? 
You  don't  take  me  for  no  German,  do  you  ?" 

"No,  no,  of  course  not,"  she  apologized 
placatingly.  "Oh,  certainly  not.  I  mean,  you 
want  to  learn  the  things  of  America,  so  you 
can  love  this  country,  and  make  it  yours. 
Then  you  will  forget  that  other  land  from 
which  you  came,  and  know  this  for  your  own, 
now  and  forever." 

Eveley  was  arrested  by  the  steady  gleam 
of  a  pair  of  eyes  in  the  middle  of  the  row. 
There  was  open  denial  and  disbelief  written 
in  every  feature  and  line  of  his  face. 

"Why?"  came  the  terse  querj^,  as  Eveley 
paused. 

Eveley  gazed  upon  him  in  wonderment. 
"Wh-what  did  you  say?" 

"I  said,  why?" 

"Well,  why  not  ?"  she  countered  nervously. 
"This  is  your  country  now.  You  must  love  it 
best  in  all  the  world,  and  must  grow  to  be  like 
us, — one  of  us, — America  for  Americans  only, 
you  know." 

*Y'ou  tell  us  to  forget  the  land  we  came 


THE  IRISH-AMERICAN  LEAGUE    47 

from,"  he  said  in  an  even  impersonal  voice. 
'*Is  that  patriotism, — to  forget  the  land  of 
your  birth?  I  thought  patriotism  was  to  re- 
member your  home-land, — holding  it  in  your 
heart, — hoping  to  return  to  it  again, — and 
make  it  better." 

"But — but  that  is  not  patriotism  to  this 
country,"  protested  Eveley,  aghast.  "That  is 
—disloyalty.  If  you  wish  to  be  always  of 
your  own  land,  and  to  love  it  best,  you  should 
stay  there.  If  you  come  here,  to  get  our 
training,  our  education,  our  development, 
our  riches, — then  this  must  be  your  country, 
and  no  other." 

"Why?"  he  asked  again.  "Wliy  should  we 
not  come  here  and  get  all  the  good  things  you 
can  give  us,  and  leam  what  you  can  teach  us, 
and  take  what  money  we  can  earn,  and  then 
go  back  with  all  these  good  things  to  make 
our  ow^n  land  bigger  and  better  and  richer? 
That  is  patriotism,  I  think." 

"No,  no,"  protested  Eveley  again.  "That  is 
not  loyalty.  If  you  choose  this  country  for 
your  home,  it  must  be  first  in  your  heart,  and 
last  also.  This  is  your  home-land  now, — the 


48  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

land  you  believe  in,  the  land  of  your  love, 
America  first." 

''But  America  was  not  first.  The  home- 
land was  first." 

"Yes,  it  was  first,"  she  admitted  pacifically. 
**But  America  is  last.  America  is  the  final 
touch.  And  so  now  you  will  learn  our  lan- 
guage, our  games,  our  business,  our  way  of 
life.  You  will  live  here,  work  here,  and  if  war 
comes  again  you  will  die  for  America." 

Then  she  went  on  very  quickly,  fearful  of 
interruptions  that  were  proving  so  disas- 
trous. ''That  is  why  we  are  organizing  this 
little  club,  you  boys  and  I.  We  are  going  to 
talk  together.  We  are  going  to  play  to- 
gether. We  are  going  to  study  together. 
So  you  can  learn  American  ways  in  all 
things.  Now  what  kind  of  club  shall  we 
have?  That  is  the  American  way  of  doing 
things.  It  is  not  my  club,  but  yours.  You  are 
the  people,  and  so  you  must  decide." 

A  long  and  profound  silence  followed,  evi- 
dently indicative  of  deep  thought. 

"A  baseball  club,"  at  last  suggested  a  small 
Jap  with  a  bashful  smile. 


THE  IRISH-AMERICAN  LEAGUE    49 

"That  is  a  splendid  idea/'  cried  Eveley 
brightly.  ''Baseball  is  a  good  American 
sport,  a  clean,  lively  game.  Now  what  shall 
we  call  our  baseball  club?" 

Again  deep  thought,  but  in  a  moment  from 
an  earnest  Jewish  boy  came  the  suggestion, 
"The  Irish-American  Baseball  League." 

Eveley  searched  his  face  carefully,  looking 
for  traces  of  irony.  But  the  pinched  thin 
features  were  earnest,  the  eyes  alight  with 
pleased  gratification  at  his  readiness  of  re- 
tort. 

A  hum  of  approval  indicated  that  the 
Irish-American  League  had  met  with  favor. 
But  Eveley  wavered. 

"Why?"  she  asked  in  puzzled  tone. 
"There  is  not  an  Irish  boy  here.  You  are 
Italians,  and  Spanish,  and  Jewish,  and  Rus- 
sian, so  why  call  it  Irish-American?" 

"My  stepfather  is  an  Irishman,  his  name 
is  Mike  O'Malley,"  said  a  small  Mexican.  "So 
I'll  be  the  captain." 

"Gwan,  ain't  it  enough  to  get  the  club 
named  for  you?"  came  the  angry  retort. 
*'What  you  know  about  baseball,  anyhow?" 


50  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

Eveley  silenced  them  quickly.  "Let's  just 
call  it  the  American  League,"  she  pleaded. 

*The  Irish- American  League  is  well  known, 
and  gets  its  name  in  the  paper,"  was  the 
ready  argument  in  its  favor. 

And  this  fact,  together  with  the  strong 
appeal  the  words  had  made  to  their  sense  of 
dignity,  proved  irresistible.  They  refused  to 
give  it  up.  And  when  Eveley  tried  to  reason 
with  them,  they  told  her  slyly  that  the  proper 
way  to  decide  was  by  putting  it  to  vote. 

Eveley  swallov/ed  hard,  but  conscientiously 
admitted  the  justice  of  this,  and  put  the 
question  to  vote.  And  as  the  club  was  unan- 
imously in  favor  of  it,  and  only  Eveley  was 
opposed,  her  Americanization  baseball  club 
of  Italians  and  Mexicans  and  Orientals  went 
down  into  history  as  the  Irish-American. 
League. 

When  it  came  to  voting  for  officers,  she 
again  met  with  scant  success.  They  fiatly  re- 
fused to  have  a  president,  stating  that  a  cap- 
tain could  do  all  the  bossing  necessary,  and 
that  baseball  clubs  always  had  a  captain.  In 
the  vote  that  followed  the  result  was  curi- 


THE  IRISH-AMERICAN  LEAGUE    51 

ously  impartial.  Every  boy  in  the  club  voted 
for  himself.  Eveley,  who  had  been  won  by 
the  bright  face  of  a  young  Jewish  boy  sitting 
near  her  with  keen  eyes  intent  upon  her, 
voted  for  him,  which  gave  him  a  fifty  per 
cent,  majority  over  the  nearest  competitor, 
and  Eveley  declared  him  the  captain. 

A  few  moments  later,  Eveley  was  called 
away  to  the  telephone  by  Nolan,  wishing  to 
know  what  time  he  should  call  for  her  and 
the  moment  she  was  out  of  hearing,  the  club 
went  into  noisy  conference.  Upon  her  re- 
turn, the  argumentative  Russian  announced 
that  the  vote  had  been  changed,  and  he  was 
unanimously  elected  captain. 

"But  how  did  that  happen?"  Eveley  de- 
manded doubtfully.  "Did  the  rest  of  you 
change  your  votes,  and  decide  he  should  be 
captain  ?" 

There  was  a  rustle  of  hesitation,  almost  a 
dissenting  murmur. 

The  newly  elected  captain  lowered  his 
brows  ominously.  "You  did,  didn't  you  ?"  he 
asked,  glaring  around  on  his  fellow  members. 

"Yes,"  came  feebly  though  unanimously. 


52  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

"Did — did  you  vote?"  questioned  Eveley 
tremulously. 

*'Sure,  we  voted,"  said  the  captain  amiably. 
"We  decided  that  I  know  the  game  better 
than  the  rest  of  the  guys,  and  I  can  lick  any 
kid  in  this  gang  vv^ith  one  hand,  and  we  de- 
cided that  I  ought  to  be  the  captain.  Ain't 
that  right?"  Again  he  turned  lowering 
brows  on  the  Irish-American  League. 

No  denial  was  forthcoming,  and  although 
Eveley  felt  assured  that  in  some  way  the 
American  ideal  of  popular  selection  had  been 
violently  outraged,  it  seemed  the  part  of  pol- 
icy to  overlook  what  might  have  occurred. 
Some  minor  rules  were  agreed  upon,  and  the 
club  decided  to  meet  for  practise  every  eve- 
ning after  school.  Eveley  could  not  attend 
except  on  Saturdays,  and  a  boy  near  her, 
>vhose  features  had  seemed  vaguely  and  be- 
wilderingly  familiar,  announced  that  he  must 
withdraw  as  he  worked  and  had  no  time  for 
baseball.  The  captain  professed  his  ability 
to  fill  up  the  club  to  the  required  number 
with  exceptional  baseball  material,  and  the 
meeting  adjourned  without  further  parley. 


THE  IRISH-AIVIERICAN  LEAGUE    53 

This  one  meeting  sufficed  unalterably  to 
convince  Eveley  that  she  was  totally  and 
helplessly  out  of  her  element.  She  was  not 
altogether  sure  those  quick-witted  boys 
needed  Americanizing,  but  she  was  sure  that 
she  was  not  the  one  to  do  it  if  they  did  re- 
quire it.  She  realized  that  she  had  abso- 
lutely no  idea  how  to  go  about  instilling  prin- 
ciples of  freedom  and  loyalty  in  the  hearts  of 
young  foreigners. 

It  was  with  great  sadness  that  she  began 
adjusting  her  hat  and  collar  ready  to  go 
home,  leaving  defeat  and  failure  behind  her, 
when  a  blithe  voice  at  her  elbow  broke  into 
her  despair. 

"So  long,  Miss  Ainsworth;  see  you  in  the 
morning." 

Eveley  whirled  about  and  stared  into  the 
face  of  the  small' lad  whose  features  had 
seemed  so  curiously  familiar. 

"To-morrow?"  she  repeated. 

"Surest  thing  you  know,  at  the  office,"  he 
said,  grinning  impishly  at  her  evident  inabil- 
ity to  place  him.  "I  knew  all  the  time  you 
didn't  know  me.    I  am  Angelo  Moreno,  the 


54  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

Number  Three   elevator  boy   at   the   Rollo 
Building." 

*'Do — do  you  know  who  I  am?" 

*'Sure,  you're  Miss  Ainsworth,  old  Jim  Hod- 
gin's  private  secretary." 

*'How  long  have  you  been  there  ?" 

* 'About  a  year  and  a  half." 

*T  never  noticed,"  she  said,  and  there  was 
pain  in  her  voice. 

"Oh,  well,"  he  said  soothingly,  "there's  al- 
ways a  jam  going  up  and  down  when  you  do, 
and  you  are  tired  evenings." 

"But  you  are  in  the  jam,  too,  and  you  are 
tired  as  well  as  I ,  but  you  have  seen." 

"That's  my  job,"  he  said  complacently.  "I 
got  to  know  the  folks  in  our  building." 

"How  much  do  you  know  about  me?"  she 
pursued  with  morbid  curiosity. 

He  grinned  at  her  again,  companionably. 
"You're  twenty-five  years  old,  and  you're 
stuck  on  that  fellow  Inglish,  with  Morrow 
and  Mayne  over  at  the  Holland  Building. 
You  used  to  live  with  your  aunt  up  on  Thorn 
Street,  but  she  died  and  you  got  the  house. 
B.  T.  Raines  is  your  brother-in-law,  and  he's 


THE  IRISH-AMERICAN  LEAGUE    55 

got  two  kids,  but  his  wife  is  not  as  good- 
looking  as  you  are.  You  stayed  with  them 
two  months  after  your  aunt  died,  but  last 
week  you  got  a  bunch  of  your  beaux,  soldiers 
and  things,  to  build  you  some  steps  up  the 
outside  of  your  house  and  now  you  live  up 
there  by  yourself.  Gee,  I'd  think  you'd  be 
afraid  of  pirates  and  Greasers  and  things 
coming  up  that  canyon  from  the  bay  to  rob 
you — you  being  just  a  woman  alone  up 
there." 

Eveley  gazed  upon  him  in  blank  astonish- 
ment. *'Do — do  you  know  that  much  about 
everybody  in  our  building?"  she  asked. 

"Well,  I  know  plenty  about  most  of  'em, 
and  some  things  that  some  of  'em  don't  know 
I  know,  and  wouldn't  be  keen  on  having 
talked  around  among  strangers.  But  of 
course  I  pays  the  most  attention  to  the  good- 
lookers,"  he  admitted  frankly. 

"Thank  you,"  said  Eveley,  with  a  faint 
smile.  Then  she  flushed.  "What  nerve  for 
me  to  talk  of  assimilation,"  she  said.  "We 
don't  know  how  to  go  about  it.  We  have 
been  asleep  and  blind  and  careless  and  stupid, 


56  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

but  you — why,  you  will  assimilate  us,  if  we 
don't  look  out.  You  are  a  bom  assimilator, 
Angelo,  do  you  know  that  ?" 

"I  guess  so,"  came  the  answer  vaguely,  but 
politely.  **I  live  about  half  a  mile  below  you. 
Miss  Ainsworth,  at  the  foot  of  the  canyon  on 
the  bay  front.  That's  all  the  diff  there  is 
between  us  and  you  highbrov/s  in  Mission 
Hills — about  half  a  mile  of  canyon."  He 
smiled  broadly,  pleased  with  his  fancy. 

'That  isn't  much,  is  it,  Angelo?  And  it 
will  be  less  pretty  soon,  now  that  we  are  try- 
ing to  open  our  eyes.  Good  night,  Angelo. 
I  will  see  you  to-morrow — really  see  you,  I 
mean.  And  please  don't  assimilate  me  quite 
so  fast — you  must  give  me  time.  I — I  am 
new  to  this  business  and  progress  very  slow- 
ly." 

Then  she  said  good  night  again,  and  went 
away.  And  Angelo  swaggered  back  to  his 
companions.  "Gee,  ain't  she  a  beaut?"  he 
gloated.  "All  the  swells  in  our  building  is 
nuts  on  that  dame.  But  she  gives  'em  all 
the  go-by." 

Then  the  Irish-American  League,  without 


THE  IRISH-AMERICAN  LEAGUE    57 

the  assimilator,  went  into  a  private  session 
with  cigarettes  and  near-beer  in  a  small 
dingy  room  far  down  on  Fifth  Street — a  ses- 
sion that  lasted  far  into  the  night. 

But  Eveley  Ainsworth  did  not  know  that. 
She  was  sitting  in  the  dark  beside  her  win- 
dow, staring  out  at  the  lights  that  circled  the 
bay.    But  she  did  not  see  them. 

"Assimilate  the  foreign  element,"  she 
whispered  in  a  frightened  voice.  *'I  am  afraid 
we  can't.  It  is  too  late.  They  got  started 
first — and  they  are  so  shrewd.  But  we've 
got  to  do  something,  and  quickly,  or — they 
will  assimilate  us,  beyond  a  doubt.  And 
weren't  they  right  about  it,  after  all?  Isn't 
it  patriotism  and  loyalty  for  them  to  go  out 
to  foreign  countries  to  pick  up  the  finest  and 
best  of  our  civilization  and  take  it  back  to  en- 
rich their  native  land?  It  is  almost — blas- 
phemous— to  teach  them  a  new  patriotism 
to  a  new  country.  And  yet  we  have  to  do  it, 
to  make  our  country  safe  for  us.  But  who 
has  brains  enough  and  heart  enough  to  do 
it?  Oh,  dear!  And  they  do  not  call  it  duty 
that  brings  them  here  to  take  what  we  can 


58  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

give  them — they  call  it  love — not  love  of  us 
and  of  America,  but  love  of  the  little  Wops 
and  the  little  Greasers  and  the  little  Polaks 
in  their  own  home-land.  Oh,  dear,  such  a 
frightful  mess  we  have  got  ourselves  into. 
And  what  a  dunce  I  was  to  go  to  that  silly 
meeting  and  get  myself  mixed  up  in  it." 


CHAPTER  V 
HER  INHERITANCE 

THE  worries  of  the  night  never  lived  over 
into  the  sunny  day  with  Eveley,  and 
when  she  arose  the  next  morning  and  saw 
the  amethyst  mist  Hfting  into  sunshine,  when 
she  heard  the  sweet  ecstatic  chirping  of 
Httle  Mrs.  Bride  beneath,  she  smiled  con- 
tentedly. The  world  was  still  beautiful,  and 
love  remained  upon  its  throne. 

She  started  a  little  early  for  her  Vv^'ork  as 
she  was  curious  to  see  Angelo  in  the  broad 
light  of  day.  It  seemed  so  unbelievable  that 
those  bright  eyes  and  smiling  lips  had  been 
in  the  elevator  with  her  many  times  a  week 
for  many  months,  and  that  she  had  never 
even  seen  them. 

So  on  the  morning  after  her  initiation  into 
the  intricacies  of  Americanization,  she 
beamed  upon  him  with  almost  sisterly  affec- 
tion. 

"Good  morning,  Angelo.  Isn't  this  a  won- 
59 


60  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

derful  day?  Whose  secrets  have  you  fer- 
reted out  in  the  night  while  I  was  asleep?" 

Angelo  flushed  with  pleasure,  and  shoved 
some  earlier  passengers  back  into  the  car  to 
make  room  for  her  beside  him. 

"I  thought  you'd  be  too  sick  to  come  this 
morning,"  he  said,  with  his  wide  smile  that 
displayed  two  rows  of  white  and  even  teeth. 
"I  thought  it  would  take  you  twenty-four 
hours  to  get  over  us." 

"Oh,  not  a  bit  of  it,"  she  laughed.  "And 
I  am  equally  glad  to  see  that  you  are  recover- 
ing from  your  attack  of  me." 

This  while  the  elevator  rose,  stopping  at 
each  floor  to  discharge  passengers. 

At  the  fifth  floor  Eveley  passed  out  with  a 
final  smile  and  a  light  friendly  touch  of  her 
hand  on  Angelo's  arm. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  their  strange 
friendship,  which  ripened  rapidly.  Her 
memory  of  that  night  in  the  Service  League 
with  the  Irish-American  Club  was  very  hazy 
and  dim.  Except  for  the  tangible  presence 
and  person  of  Angelo,  she  might  easily  have 
believed  it  was  all  a  dream. 


HER  INHERITANCE  61 

In  spite  of  her  deep  conviction  that  she  was 
not  destined  to  any  slight  degree  of  success 
as  an  Americanizer,  Eveley  conscientiously 
studied  books  and  magazines  and  attended 
lectures  on  the  subject,  only  to  experience 
deep  grief  as  she  reahzed  that  every  addi- 
tional book,  and  article,  and  lecture,  only 
added  to  her  disbelief  in  her  powers  of  assi- 
milation. 

So  deep  and  absolute  was  her  absorption, 
that  for  some  days  she  denied  herself  to  her 
friends,  and  remained  wrapped  in  principles 
of  Americanization,  which  naturally  caused 
them  no  pleasure.  And  when  a  morning 
came  and  she  called  a  hasty  meeting  of  her 
four  closest  comrades,  voicing  imperative 
needs  and  fervent  appeals  for  help,  she  read- 
ily secured  four  promises  of  attendance  in  the 
Cloude  Cote  that  evening  at  exactly  seven- 
thirty. 

At  seven-forty-five  Eveley  sat  on  the  floor 
beside  the  window  impatiently  tapping  with 
the  absurd  tip  of  an  absurd  little  slipper. 
Nolan  had  not  come. 

Kitty  Lampton  was  there,  balancing  her- 


62  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

self  dangerously  with  two  cushions  on  the 
arm  of  a  big  rocker.  Eveley  called  Kitty  the 
one  drone  in  her  circle  of  friendship,  for 
Kitty  was  born  to  golden  spoons  and  lived  a 
life  of  comfort  and  ease  and  freedom  from 
responsibility  in  a  great  home  with  a  doting 
father,  and  two  attentive  maids.  Eileen 
Trevis  was  there,  too,  having  arrived  prompt- 
ly on  the  stroke  of  seven-thirty.  Eileen 
Trevis  always  arrived  promptly  on  the  stroke 
of  the  moment  she  was  expected.  She  was 
known  about  towTi  as  a  successful  business 
woman,  though  still  in  the  early  thirties. 
The  third  of  the  group  was  Miriam  Landis, 
whose  inexcusable  marriage  to  her  handsome 
husband  had  seriously  deranged  the  morale 
of  the  little  quartet  of  comrades. 

Eveley  looked  around  upon  them.  *'It  is 
a  funny  thing,  a  most  remarkably  funny 
thing!"  she  said  indignantly.  ''Every  one 
says  that  girls  are  always  late,  and  you  three, 
except  Eileen,  are  usually  later  than  the 
average  late  ones.  Yet  here  you  are.  And  ev- 
ery one  says  that  men  are  always  prompt, 
and  Nolan  is  certainly  worse  than  the  aver- 


HER  INHERITANCE  63 

age  man  in  every  conceivable  way.  But 
Nolan,  where  is  he  ?" 

*'Well,  go  ahead  and  tell  us  the  news  any- 
how," said  Kitty,  hugging  the  back  of  the 
chair  to  keep  from  falling  while  she  talked. 
**But  if  it  is  anything  about  that  funny  Amer- 
icanization stuff,  you  needn't  tell  it.  I  asked 
father  about  it,  and  he  explained  it  fully,  only 
he  lost  me  in  the  first  half  of  the  first  sen- 
tence. So  I  don't  want  to  hear  anything 
more  about  it.  And  you  don't  need  to  tell  me 
any  more  ways  of  not  doing  my  duty,  either, 
for  I  am  not  doing  it  now  as  hard  as  I  can." 

Miriam  Landis  leaned  forward  from  the 
couch  where  she  was  lounging  idly.  "What 
is  this  peculiar  little  notion  of  yours  about 
duty,  Eveley?"  she  asked,  smiling.  **My  poor 
child,  all  over  town  they  are  exploiting  you 
and  your  silly  notions.  Even  my  dear  Lem 
uses  your  disbelief  in  duty  to  excuse  himself 
for  being  out  five  nights  a  week." 

''That  is  absurd,"  said  Eveley,  flushing. 
"And  they  may  laugh  all  they  like.  I  do  be- 
lieve that  duty  has  wrecked  more  homes  and 
ruined  more  lives  than — than  vampires." 


64  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

Miriam  smiled  tolerantly.  "Wait  till  you 
get  married,  sweetest,"  she  said  softly.  "If 
married  women  did  not  believe  in  duty,  and 
do  it,  no  marriage  would  last  more  than  six 
months." 

"Well,  I  qualify  myself,  you  know,"  said 
Eveley  excusingly.  "I  do  think  everybody 
has  one  duty — ^but  only  one — and  it  isn*t  the 
one  most  people  think  it  is." 

*'For  the  sake  of  my  immortal  soul,  tell 
me,"  pleaded  Kitty.  "It  was  you  who  led  me 
into  the  dutiless  paths.     Now  lead  me  back." 

"Get  up,  Kitty,  and  don't  be  silly,"  said 
Eveley  loftily.  "This  is  not  a  driven  duty, 
but  a  spontaneous  one.  And  you  don't  need 
to  know  what  it  is,  for  it  comes  naturally,  or 
it  doesn't  come  at  all.  Isn't  that  Nolan  the 
most  aggravating  thing  that  ever  lived? 
Eight  o'clock.  And  he  promised  for  seven- 
thirty." 

"Go  on  and  tell  us,  Eveley,"  said  Eileen 
Trevis.  "Maybe  somebody  is  sick,  and  has  to 
make  a  will,  and  he  won't  be  here  all  night." 

"Oh,  I  can't  tell  it  twice.  You  know  how: 
many  questions  Nolan  always  asks,  and  be- 


HER  INHERITANCE  65 

sides  I  want  to  surprise  you  all  in  a  bunch. 
Look,  did  I  show  you  the  new  blouse  I  got 
to-day?  I  needed  a  new  one  to  Americanize 
my  Irish-Americans  Saturday.  It  cost  ten 
dollars,  and  perfectly  plain — but  I  look  like  a 
sad  sweet  dream  in  it." 

Then  the  girls  were  absorbed  in  a  discus- 
sion of  the  utter  impossibility  of  bringing 
next  month's  allowance  or  salary  within 
speaking  distance  of  last  month's  bills,  a  sub- 
ject which  admitted  of  no  argument  but 
which  interested  them  deeply.  So  after  all 
they  did  not  hear  the  rumble  and  creak  of  the 
rustic  stairway,  nor  the  quick  steps  crossing 
the  garden  on  the  roof  of  the  sun  parlor  for 
Nolan  was  forgotten  until  his  sharp  tap  on 
the  glass  was  followed  by  the  instant  appear- 
ance of  his  head,  and  his  pleasant  voice  said 
in  tones  of  friendly  raillery: 

"Every  time  I  climb  those  wabbly  rattly- 
bangs  that  you  call  rustic  stairs,  I  wonder 
that  you  have  a  friend  to  your  name.  Hello, 
Eveley." 

^'Inasmuch  as  you  made  the  wabbliest  pair 
of  all,  and  since  you  climb  them  more  than 


66  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

anybody  else,  you  haven't  much  room  to 
talk,"  returned  Eveley  tartly,  drawing  back 
the  portieres  to  admit  his  entrance,  which 
was  no  laughing  matter  for  a  large  man. 

''You  positively  are  the  latest  thing  that 
ever  was,"  she  went  on,  as  he  landed  with  a 
heavy  thud. 

"Me  ?    Why,  I  am  the  soul  of  punctuality." 

"You  may  be  the  soul  of  it,  but  punctuality 
does  not  get  far  with  a  soul  minus  willing 
feet." 

"Anyhow,  I  am  here,  and  that  is  some- 
thing," he  said,  making  the  rounds  of  the 
room  to  shake  hands  cordially  with  the  other 
girls. 

Eveley  hopped  up  quickly  on  to  the  small 
desk — shoving  the  telephone  off,  knowing 
Nolan  would  catch  it,  as  indeed  he  did  with 
great  skill,  having  been  catching  telephones 
and  vases  and  books  for  Eveley  for  five  full 
years.  She  clasped  her  hands  together,  glow- 
ing, and  her  friends  leaned  toward  her  ex- 
pectantly. 

"I  have  called  you  together,"  she  began  in 
a  high,  slightly  imperious  voice,  "my  four 


HER  INHERITANCE  67 

best  friends,  counting  Nolan,  because  I  need 
advice." 

*'Do  you  wish  to  retain  me  as  counsellor?" 
asked  Nolan,  with  a  strong  legal  accent. 
"My  fee—" 

"I  do  not  wish  to  retain  you  in  any  capac- 
ity," Eveley  interrupted  quickly.  *'My  chief 
worry  is  how  to  dispose  of  you  satisfactorily. 
And  as  for  fees — Pouf !  Anyhow,  I  need  ad- 
vice, good  advice,  deep  advice,  loving  advice. 
So  I  have  called  you  into  solemn  conclave, 
and  because  it  is  a  most  exceptional  occasion 
I  have  prepared  refreshments,  good  ones, 
sandvvdches  and  coffee  and  cake — Did  you 
bring  the  cake.  Kit?  And  ice-cream — ^the 
drug-store  is  going  to  deliver  it  at  ten,  only 
the  boy  won't  climb  the  stairs ;  you'll  have  to 
meet  him  at  the  bottom,  Nolan.  So  I  hope 
you  realize  that  it  is  an  aifair  of  some  mo- 
ment, and  not — Miriam  Landis,  are  you 
asleep?" 

Miriam  flashed  her  eyes  wide  open,  denial 
on  her  lips,  but  Kitty  forestalled  her.  "That 
is  a  pose,"  she  explained.  "Billy  Ferris  said, 
and  I  told  Miriam  he  said  it,  that  with  her 


m  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

eyes  closed,  she  is  the  loveliest  thing  in  the 
world.  And  since  then  she  walks  around  in 
her  sleep  half  the  time." 

Miriam  turned  toward  her,  still  more  in- 
dignant denial  clamoring  for  utterance,  but 
Eveley,  accepting  the  explanation  as  reason- 
able, went  quickly  on. 

"Now  I  want  you  to  be  very  serious  and 
thoughtful — can  you  concentrate  better  in 
the  dark.  Kit?  Because  I  know  at  seances 
and  things  they  turn  off  the  lights,  and — " 

''Oh,  let's  do.  And  we'll  all  hold  hands, 
and  concentrate,  and  maybe  we'll  scare  up  a 
ghost  or  something."  Then  she  looked 
around  the  room — ^four  girls  and  Nolan — 
Nolan,  who  had  edged  with  alacrity  toward 
Eveley  on  the  telephone  desk — and  Kitty 
shrugged  her  shoulders.  "Oh,  what's  the 
use?  Never  mind.  Go  on  with  the  gossip, 
Eveley.     I  can  think  with  the  lights  on." 

"The  ice-cream  will  be  here  before  we  get 
started,"  said  Eileen  Trevis  suddenly, 

Eveley  clasped  her  hands  again  and  smiled. 
**I  have  received  a  fortune.  Somebody  died 
— ^you  needn't  advise  me  to  wear  mourning, 


HER  INHERITANCE  69 

either,  Miriam.  I  never  saw  him  in  my  life, 
and  never  even  heard  of  him,  and  honestly 
I  think  he  got  me  mixed  up  with  somebody 
else  and  left  the  fortune  to  the  wrong  grand- 
niece,  but  anyhow  it  is  none  of  my  business, 
and  since  he  is  dead  and  the  money  is  here, 
I  suppose  there  is  no  chance  of  his  discover- 
ing the  mistake  and  making  me  refund  it 
after  it  is  spent." 

"A  fortune,"  gasped  Kitty,  tumbling  off  the 
arm  of  the  chair  and  rushing  to  fling  herself 
on  the  floor  beside  Eveley,  warm  arms  em- 
bracing her  knees. 

*'Root  of  all  evil,"  murmured  Miriam,  gaz- 
ing into  space  through  half -closed  lids,  and 
seeing  wonderful  visions  of  complexions  and 
permanent  curls  and  a  manicure  every  day. 

**How  fortunate,"  said  Eileen  in  a  voice 
pleased  though  still  unruffled  and  even.  "A 
fortune  means  safety  and  protection  and — " 

"Who  the  dickens  has  been  butting  into 
your  affairs  now?"  demanded  Nolan  peevish- 
ly, and  though  the  girls  laughed,  there  was 
no  laughter  in  his  eyes  and  no  smile  on  his 
lips. 


70  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

"Well,  since  he  calls  me  his  great-niece,  I 
suppose  he  is  my  grand-uncle." 

''How  much,  lovey,  how  much?''  gurgled 
Kitty,  at  her  side. 

"Twenty-five  hundred  dollars,"  announced 
Eveley  ecstatically. 

Nolan  breathed  again,  "Oh,  that  isn't  so 
bad.  I  thought  maybe  some  simp  had  left 
you  a  couple  of  millions  or  so." 

Eveley  fairly  glared  upon  him.  "What  do 
you  mean  by  that?  Why  a  simp?  Why 
shouldn't  I  be  left  a  couple  of  millions  as  well 
as  anybody  else  ?  Maybe  you  think  I  haven't 
sense  enough  to  spend  a  couple  of  millions." 

"And  why  did  you  require  advice  ?"  Eileen 
queried. 

*'0h,  yes."  Eveley  smiled  again.  "Yes,  of 
course.  Now  you  must  all  think  desperately 
for  a  while — I  hate  to  ask  so  much  of  you, 
Nolan — but  perhaps  this  once  you  won't  mind 
— ^I  want  you  to  tell  me  what  to  do  with  the 
money." 

This  was  indeed  a  serious  responsibility 
What  to  do  with  twenty-five  hundred  dol- 
lars? 


HER  INHERITANCE  71 

"You  do  not  feel  it  is  your  duty  to  spend 
the  twenty-five  hundred  pounding  American- 
ism into  your  Irish- American  Wops?"  asked 
Nolan  facetiously. 

Eveley  took  this  good-naturedly.  "Oh,  I 
got  off  from  work  at  four-thirty  and  went 
down  to  their  field,  and  we  had  a  celebra- 
tion. We  had  ice-cream  and  candy  and  chew- 
ing gum,  and  I  spent  twenty-five  dollars 
equipping  them  with  balls  and  bats  and 
since  I  was  with  them  an  hour  and  a  quarter, 
I  feel  that  I  am  entitled  to  the  rest  of  the 
fortune  myself." 

"Well,  dearie,"  said  Eileen,  "it  is  really 
very  simple.  Put  it  in  a  savings  account,  of 
course.  Keep  it  for  a  rainy  day.  You  may 
be  ill.    You  may  get  married — " 

"Can't  she  get  married  without  twenty-five 
hundred  dollars?"  asked  Nolan,  with  great 
indignation.  "She  doesn't  expect  to  buy  her 
own  groceries  when  she  gets  married,  does 
she?" 

"She  may  have  to,  Nolan,"  said  Eileen  gen- 
tly. "One  never  knows  what  may  happen 
after  marriage.  Getting  married  is  no  laugh- 


72  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

ing  matter,  and  Eveley  should  be  prepared 
for  any  exigency." 

"But,  Eileen,  she  won't  need  her  twenty- 
five  hundred  to  get  married.  No  decent  fel- 
low would  marry  a  girl  unless  he  could  sup- 
port her,  and  do  it  well,  even  luxuriously. 
You  don't  suppose  I  would  let  my  wife  spend 
her  twenty-five  hundred — " 

*'If  you  mean  me,  I  shall  do  whatever  I 
like  with  my  own  money  when  I  get  mar- 
ried," said  Eveley  quickly.  "My  husband  will 
have  nothing  to  say  about  it.  You  needn't 
think  for  one  minute — " 

"I  am  not  your  husband,  am  I?  I  haven't 
exactly  proposed  to  you  yet,  have  I?" 

Eveley  swallowed  hard.  "Certainly  not. 
And  probably  never  will.  By  the  time  you 
get  around  to  it,  getting  married  will  be  out 
of  date,  and  none  of  the  best  people  doing  it 
any  more." 

"You  may  not  have  asked  her,  Nolan,"  said 
Eileen  evenly.  "And  that  is  your  business, 
of  course.  She  will  probably  turn  you  down 
when  you  do  ask  her,  just  as  she  does  every- 
body else.    But — " 


HER  INHERITANCE  73 

**Who  has  been  asking  her  now?"  he  cried, 
with  jealous  interest. 

"But  while  we  are  on  the  subject,  I  hope 
you  will  permit  me  to  say  that  I  think  your 
principles  are  all  wrong,  and  even  dangerous. 
You  think  a  man  should  wait  a  thousand 
years  until  he  can  keep  a  wife  like  a  pet  dog, 
on  a  cushion  with  a  pink  ribbon  around  her 
neck—" 

"The  dog's  neck,  or  the  wife's?" 

"The  dog's — ^no,  the  wife's — ^both  of  them," 
she  decided  at  last,  with  never  a  ruffle.  "You 
want  to  wait  until  she  is  tired  of  loving,  and 
too  old  to  have  a  good  time,  and  worn  out 
with  work.  It  isn't  right.  It  is  not  fair. 
It  is  unjust  both  to  yourself,  and  to  Eve — to 
the  girl." 

"But,  my  dear  child,"  he  said.  Eileen  was 
three  years  older  than  Nolan,  but  being  a 
lawyer  he  called  all  women  "child."  "My 
dear  child,  do  you  realize  that  my  salary  is 
eighteen  hundred  a  year,  and  I  get  only  a  few 
hundred  dollars  in  fees.  Think  of  the  cost  of 
food  these  days,  and  of  clothes,  and  amuse- 
ments, to  say  nothing  of  rent!  Do  you  think 


74  EVE   TO    THE    RESCUE 

I  would  allow  Eve — ^my  wife,  to  go  without 
the  sweet  things  of — " 

"You  needn't  bring  me  in,"  said  Eveley 
loftily.    "I  have  never  accepted  you,  have  I?" 

"No,  not  exactly,  I  suppose,  but — " 

"Eveley,"  said  Miriam,  suddenly  sitting 
erect  on  the  couch.    *I  have  it." 

"Sounds   like   the   measles,"   said   Kitty. 

"I  mean  I  know  what  to  do  with  the  money. 
Listen,  dear.  You  do  not  want  to  go  on  slav- 
ing in  an  office  until  you  are  old  and  ugly. 
And  Nolan  is  quite  right,  you  certainly  can 
not  marry  a  grubby  clerk  in  a  law  office." 

Nolan  laughed  at  that,  but  Eveley  sat  up 
very  straight  indeed  and  fairly  glowered  at 
her  unconscious  friend  on  the  couch. 

"You  must  have  the  soft  and  lovely  things 
of  life,  and  the  way  to  get  them  is  to  marry 
them.  Now,  sweet,  you  take  your  twenty- 
five  hundred,  be  manicured  and  massaged  and 
shampooed  until  you  are  glowing  with 
beauty,  buy  a  lot  of  lovely  clothes,  trip 
around  like  a  lady,  dance  and  play,  and  meet 
men — men  with  money — and  there  you  are. 
You  can  look  like  a  million  dollars  on  your 


HER  INHERITANCE  75 

twenty-five  hundred — and  your  looks  will  get 
you  the  million  by  marriage." 

"Miriam  Landis,  that  is  shameful,"  said 
Nolan  in  a  voice  of  horror.  "It  is  disgrace- 
ful. I  never  thought  to  hear  a  woman,  a 
married  woman,  a  nice  woman,  utter  such 
low  and  grimy  thoughts.  Could  any  such 
marriage  be  happy?" 

"Well,  Nolan,"  said  Miriam  sadly,  "I  am 
not  sure  that  any  man^iage  can  be  happy,  or 
was  ever  supposed  to  be.  But  women  are  such 
that  they  have  to  try  it  once.  Eveley  will 
be  like  all  the  rest.  And  if  she  has  to  try  it, 
she  had  better  try  it  with  a  million,  than  with 
eighteen  hundred  a  year." 

"There  is  something  in  that,  Miriam,  cer- 
tainly," said  Eveley  thoughtfully.  "What  do 
you  think,  Eileen?" 

"I  think  it  is  absurd.  The  notion  that 
woman  was  bom  for  marriage  died  long  ago. 
Ridiculous !  Woman  is  bom  for  life,  for  serv-- 
ice,  for  action,  just  as  man  is.  Look  at  the 
married  people  you  know.  How  many  of 
them  are  happy?  I  do  not  wish  to  be  per- 
sonal but  I  know  very  few  married  people. 


76  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

either  men  or  women,  who  would  not  be  glad 
to  undo  the  marriage  knot  if  it  could  be  done 
easily  and  quietly  without  notoriety.  They 
are  not  happy.  But  we  are  happy.  Why? 
Because  we  work,  we  think,  we  feel,  we  live. 
We  are  not  slaves  to  the  contentment  of  man. 
Go  on  working,  my  dear.  Keep  your  inde- 
pendence. But  play  safe.  Put  your  money 
in  the  bank,  or  in  some  good  investment,  and 
let  it  safeguard  your  future.  Then  you  can 
go  your  way  serene." 

"That  is  certainly  sound.  Marriage  isn't 
the  most  successful  thing  in  the  world." 

"I  should  say  not,"  chimed  Kitty.  "Hus- 
bands are  always  tired  of  wives,  their  own, 
I  mean,  inside  of  five  years." 

"Well,  if  it  comes  to  that,"  said  Eveley  hon- 
estly, "I  suppose  wives  are  tired  of  their  own 
husbands,  too.  But  they  are  so  stubborn 
they  won't  admit  it.  In  their  hearts  I  sup- 
pose they  are  quite  as  sick  of  their  husbands 
as  their  husbands  are  of  them." 

"Eve,"  said  Nolan  anxiously,  "where  are 
you  getting  all  these  wicked  notions?  Mar- 
riage is  the  most  sacred — " 


HER  INHERITANCE  77 

"Institution.  I  know  it.  Eveiy  one  says 
marriage  is  a  sacred  institution,  and  so  is  a 
church.  But  nobody  wants  to  live  with  one 
permanently." 

"But,  Eveley,  the  sanctity  of  the—" 

"Home.  Sure,  we  know  it  is  sanctified. 
But  monotonous.  Deadly  monotonous." 

"Eve,"  and  his  voice  was  quite  tragic, 
"don't  you  feel  that  the  divine  sphere  of — " 

"Woman.  You  needn't  finish  it,  Nolan ;  we 
know  it  as  v/ell  as  you  do.  The  divine  sphere 
of  woman  is  in  the  sanctified  home  keeping 
up  the  sacred  institution  of  marriage  while 
her  husband — oh,  tralalalalalala." 

'*Yes,  sir,  I'll  go  you,"  cried  Kitty  sud- 
denly, leaping  up  from  the  floor,  and  waving 
her  hand.     "Europe!    You  and  I  together." 

"She  has  come  to,"  said  Eileen  resignedly. 
"There's  an  end  of  sensible  talk  for  this  eve- 
ning." 

"Yes,  Kit,  what  is  it?  I  knew  you  would 
think  of  something  good." 

"We'll  go  to  Europe,  you  and  I.  I  think  I 
can  work  dad  to  let  me  go.  I  can  pretend  to 
fall  in  love  with  the  plumber,  or  somebody, 


78  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

and  he'll  be  glad  to  trot  me  off  for  a  while. 
And  he  likes  you,  Eveley.  He  thinks  you  are 
so  sensible." 

"Why,  he  hardly  knows  me,"  cried  Eveley, 
astonished. 

**Yes,  that  is  why.  I  tell  him  how  sensible 
you  are  when  you  are  not  there,  and  when  he 
gets  home  I  hustle  you  out  of  his  sight  in  a 
hurry.    He  likes  me  to  have  sensible  friends." 

**And  what  shall  we  do  with  the  money  T* 

'Travel,  travel,  travel,  and  have  a  gay  good 
time,"  said  Kitty  blithely.  "All  over  Europe. 
We'll  get  some  handsome  clothes,  and  have 
the  time  of  our  lives  as  long  as  the  money 
lasts,  and  then  marry  dukes  or  princes  or 
something  like  that." 

"Two  of  you,"  shouted  Nolan  furiously. 
"Well,  Eve,  it  is  a  good  thing  you  have 
one  friend  to  give  you  really  decent  advice. 
Of  all  idiotic  ideas.  Buy  fine  clothes  and 
marry  a  millionaire.  Save  it  to  pay  for  po- 
tatoes when  you  get  a  husband  that  can't  sup- 
port you.  Travel  to  Europe  and  marry  some 
purple  prince." 

"Why  purple?"   asked  Eveley  curiously* 


HER  INHERITANCE  79 

"Do  you  mean  clothed  in  purple  and  fine 
linen?" 

"If  you  mean  blood,  it  is  blue,"  said  Kitty. 
"Blue-blooded  princes.  Whoever  heard  of  a 
purple-blooded  prince?" 

*'What  did  you  mean  anyhow,  Nolan?" 
asked  Eileen. 

Driven  into  a  corner,  Nolan  hesitated.  He 
had  said  purple  on  the  spur  of  the  moment, 
chiefly  because  it  sounded  derogatory  and 
went  well  with  prince. 

"What  I  really  mean,"  he  began  in  a  dis- 
passionate legislative  voice,  **what  I  really 
mean  is — purple  in  the  face.  You  know, 
purple,  splotchy  skin,  caused  by  eating  too 
much  rich  food,  drinking  too  much  strong 
wine,  playing  cards  and  dancing  and  flirting." 

**Does  flirting  make  you  purple?"  gasped 
Miriam.  'It  does  not  show  on  Lem  yet." 
And  then  she  subsided  quickly,  hoping  they 
had  not  noticed. 

"Why,  Nolan,  I  have  danced  for  weeks  and 
weeks  at  a  stretch,  evenings,  I  mean,  when 
the  service  men  were  here,"  said  Kitty,  "and 
I  am  not  purple  yet." 


80  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

"Oh,  rats,"  said  Nolan.  Then  he  bright- 
ened. "You  have  never  seen  a  prince,  so  of 
course  you  do  not  understand.  Wait  till  you 
see  one.  Then  a  purple  prince  will  mean 
something  in  your  young  life." 

"I  should  not  like  to  marry  a  purple  crea- 
ture," said  Eveley,  wrinkling  her  nose  dis- 
tastefully. "I  am  too  pink.  And  my  blue 
eyes  would  clash  with  a  purple  husband,  too. 
But  maybe  the  dukes  and  lords  are  a  different 
shade,"  she  finished  hopefully. 

Nolan  turned  his  back,  and  lit  a  cigar- 
ette. 

"Yes,  you  may  smoke,  Nolan,  by  all  means. 
I  always  like  my  guests  to  be  comfortable." 

"What  is  your  advice  then,  Nolan?  You 
are  so  scornful  about  our  suggestions,"  said 
Eileen  quietly. 

"I  know  what  Nolan  would  like,"  said  Kitty 
spitefully.  "He  would  advise  Eveley  to  give 
him  the  money  and  make  him  her  executor 
and  appoint  him  her  guardian.  That  would 
suit  him  to  a  T." 

"My  poor  infant,  Eveley  can  not  use  an 
executor  and  a  guardian  at  the  same  time. 


HER  INHERrrANCE  81 

One  comes  in  early  youth,  or  old  age,  the 
other  after  death.  An  executor — "  he  be- 
gan, clearing  his  throat  as  for  a  prolonged 
technical  explanation. 

Kitty  plunged  her  fingers  into  her  ears. 
"You  stop  that  right  now,  Nolan  Inglish. 
We  came  here  to  advise  Eveley,  not  for  you 
to  practise  on.  If  you  begin  that  I  shall 
go  straight  home — no,  I  mean  I  shall  go  out 
on  the  steps  and  wait  for  the  ice-cream." 

*'What  do  you  advise,  Nolan?"  persisted 
Eileen. 

"Well,  my  personal  advice  is,  and  I  strong- 
ly urge  it,  and  plead  it,  and  it  will  make  me 
very  happy,  and — " 

"He  wants  to  borrow  it,"  gasped  Kitty. 

"Go  on,  Nolan,"  urged  Eveley  eagerly. 

"Put  it  in  the  bank  on  your  checking  ac- 
count." 

*Tut  it—" 

"Checking  account?" 

"Yes,  indeed,  right  in  your  checking  ac- 
count." 

A  slow  scornful  light  dawned  in  Eileen's 
eyes.    "I  see,"  she  said  coldly.    "Very  selfish, 


82  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

very  unprofessional,  very  unfriendly.  He 
would  have  his  lady  love  absolutely  bankrupt, 
that  he  may  endow  her  with  all  the  goods  of 
life.'' 

"Why,  Nolan,"  said  Eveley  weakly,  lacking 
Eileen's  sharper  perception,  "don't  you  know 
me  well  enough  to  realize  that  if  I  put  it  into 
my  checking  account  it  will  be  gone,  abso- 
lutely and  everlastingly  gone,  inside  of  six 
months,  and  not  a  thing  to  show  for  it?" 

"Yes,  I  know  it,"  he  admitted  humbly. 

"And  still  you  advise  it?" 

"I  do  not  advise  it — I  just  want  it,"  he  ad- 
mitted plaintively. 

Eveley  sat*  quietly  for  a  while,  counting 
her  fingers,  her  lips  moving  once  in  a  while, 
forming  such  words  as  marriage,  travel, 
princes  and  banks.  Then  she  clapped  her 
hands  and  beamed  upon  them. 

"Lovely,"  she  cried.  "Exquisite!  Just 
what  I  wanted  to  do  myself!  You  are  dear 
good  faithful  friends,  and  wise,  too,  and  you 
will  never  know  how  much  your  advice  has 
helped  me.  Then  it  is  all  settled,  isn't  it? 
And  I  shall  buy  an  automobile." 


HER  INHERITANCE  83 

In  a  flash,  she  caught  up  a  pillow,  holding 
it  out  sharply  in  front  of  her,  whirling  it 
around  like  a  steering  wheel,  while  she 
pushed  with  both  feet  on  imaginary  clutches 
and  brakes,  and  honked  shrilly. 

But  her  friends  leaned  weakly  back  in  their 
chairs  and  stared.  Then  they  laughed,  and 
admitted  it  was  what  they  had  expected  all 
the  time. 


CHAPTER  VI 
A  WRONG  ADJUSTMENT 

EVELEY'S  resolve  to  spend  her  fortune 
for  an  auto  met  with  less  resistance 
than  she  had  anticipated.  It  seemed  that 
every  one  had  known  all  along  that  she  would 
fool  the  money  away  on  something,  and  a 
motor  was  far  more  reasonable  than  some 
things. 

"I  said  travel,"  said  Kitty.  "And  we  can 
travel  in  a  car  as  well  as  on  a  train — ^more 
fun,  too.  And  though  it  may  cut  us  off  from 
meeting  a  purple  prince — a  pretty  girl  with 
a  car  of  her  own  is  a  combination  no  man 
can  resist.  And  maybe  if  we  are  very  patient 
and  have  good  luck,  we  may  save  a  million- 
aire from  bandits,  or  rescue  a  daring  aviator 
from  capture  by  Mexicans." 

Miriam  nodded,  also,  her  eyes  cloudy  be- 
hind the  dark  lashes.  "Very  nice,  dear.  Get 
a  lot  of  stunning  motor  things  and — irresist- 
ible, simply  irresistible.  You  must  have  a 
84 


A  WRONG  ADJUSTMENT  83 

red  leather  motor  coat.  You  will  be  adorable 
in  one.  But  you'll  have  to  shake  Nolan,  dear. 
You  stand  no  chance  in  the  world  if  you  are 
constantly  herded  by  a  disagreeable  young 
lawyer,  guardianing  you  from  every  truant 
glance." 

"It  isn't  at  all  bad,"  quickly  interposed 
Eileen.  *T  believe  that  more  than  anything 
else  in  the  world,  a  motor-car  reconciles  a 
woman  to  life  without  a  husband.  She  gets 
thrills  in  plenty,  and  retains  her  indepen- 
dence at  the  same  time." 

"Eileen,"  put  in  Nolan  sternly,  "I  am  dis- 
appointed in  you.  A  woman  of  your  ability 
and  experience  trying  to  prejudice  a  young 
and  innocent  girl  against  marriage  is — is — " 

"You  are  awfully  hard  to  suit,  Nolan," 
complained  Eveley  gently.  "You  shouted  at 
Miriam  and  Kitty  for  advising  a  husband, 
and  now  you  roar  at  Eileen  for  advising 
against  one." 

"It  isn't  the  husband  I  object  to — it  is 
their  cold-blooded  scheme  to  go  out  and  pick 
one  up.    Woman  should  be  sought — " 

"Well,  when  Eveley  gets  a  car  she'll  be 


S6  EVE   TO    THE    RESCUE 

sought  fast  enough,"  said  Kitty  shrewdly. 
**She  hasn't  suffered  from  any  lack  of  ad- 
mirers as  it  is,  but  when  she  goes  motoring 
on  her  own — ach,  Louie." 

"Then  you  approve  of  the  car,  do  you, 
Nolan?" 

"Well,  since  I  can  not  think  of  any  quicker 
or  pleasanter  way  of  spending  the  money," 
he  said  slowly,  "I  may  say  that  I  do,  un- 
equivocally." 

"Why  unequivocally?" 

"What's  it  mean,  anyhow?"  demanded 
Kitty. 

"Can't  you  talk  English,  Nolan?"  asked 
Eveley,  in  some  exasperation.  "You  started 
off  as  if  you  were  in  favor,  but  now  heaven 
only  knows  v/hat  you  mean." 

"Get  your  car,  my  poor  child,  by  all  means. 
Get  your  car.  But  a  dictionary  is  what  you 
really  need." 

The  rest  of  the  evening  they  were  enthusi- 
astic almost  to  the  point  of  incoherency. 
Kitty  was  in  raptures  over  an  exquisite  red 
racer  she  had  seen  on  tfie  street.  Miriam  de- 
scribed Mary  Pickford's  rose-upholstered  car. 


A  WRONG  ADJUSTMENT  87 

and  applied  it  to  Eveley's  features.  Nolan 
developed  a  surprisingly  intimate  knowledge 
of  carburetors,  horse-powers  and  cylinders. 

When  at  last  they  braved  the  rustic  stair- 
way, homeward  bound,  with  exclamatory 
gasps  and  squeals  gradually  drifting  away 
into  silence,  Eveley  sat  down  on  the  floor  to 
take  off  her  shoes — a  most  childish  habit  car- 
ried over  into  the  years  of  age  and  wisdom — 
and  was  immediately  wrapped  in  happy 
thoughts  where  stunning  motor  clothes  and 
whirring  engines  and  Nolan's  pleasant  eyes 
were  harmoniously  mingled.  And  when  at 
last  she  started  up  into  active  consciousness 
again,  and  rushed  pellmell  to  bed,  mindful  of 
her  responsibility  as  a  business  girl,  sleep 
came  very  slowly.  And  when  it  came  at  last, 
it  was  a  chaotic  jumble  of  excited  dreams 
and  tossings. 

The  life  of  the  bride  and  groom  in  the  nest 
beneath  Eveley's  Cloud  Cote  had  progressed 
so  sweetly  and  smoothly  that  Eveley  had 
come  to  feel  it  was  quite  a  friendly  dispensa- 
tion of  Providence  that  permitted  her  to  live 


88  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

one  story  up  from  Honeymooning.  So  the 
next  morning,  in  the  midst  of  the  confusion 
that  came  from  dressing  and  getting  her 
breakfast  and  reading  motor  ads  in  the  morn- 
ing paper  at  the  same  time,  she  was  utterly 
electrified  to  hear  a  sudden  sharp  cry  of 
anguish  from  little  Mrs.  Bride  beneath — a 
cry  accompanied  by  sounds  caused  by  noth- 
ing in  the  world  but  a  passionate  and  hysteri- 
cal pounding  of  small  but  violent  feet  upon 
the  floor. 

"Oooooh,  oooooh,  don't  talk  to  me,  Dody, 
I  can't  bear  it.  I  can't,  I  can't.  Ooooh,  I 
wish  I  were  dead.  Go  away,  go  away  this  in- 
stant and  let  me  die.  Oh,  I  shall  run  away, 
I  shall  kill  myself !    Oooooh !" 

"Dearie,  sweetie,  don't,"  begged  Mr.  Groom 
distractedly.  "Lovie,  precious,  please."  And 
his  voice  faded  off  into  tender  inarticulate 
whispers. 

For  a  long  second  Eveley  was  speechless. 
Then  she  said  aloud,  very  grimly,  ''Hum. 
It  has  begun.  I  suppose  I  may  look  for  flat- 
irons  and  rolling-pins  next.  Hereafter  they 
are  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ordinary  Married  People." 


A  WRONG  ADJUSTMENT  89 

After  long  and  patient,  demonstrative 
pleading  on  his  part,  Mrs.  Severs  was  evi- 
dently restored  to  a  semblance  of  reason  and 
content,  and  quiet  reigned  for  a  while  until 
the  slam  of  the  door  indicated  that  Mr.  Sev- 
ers had  heeded  the  call  of  business. 

Almost  immediately  there  came  a  quick 
creaking  of  the  rustic  stairs  and  a  light  tap 
on  Eveley's  window. 

"Come  in,"  she  called  pleasantly.  "I  sort 
of  expected  you.  You  will  excuse  me,  won't 
you,  for  not  getting  up,  but  I  have  only  fif- 
teen minutes  to  finish  my  breakfast  and 
catch  the  car." 

"You  are  awfully  businesslike,  aren't 
you?"  asked  Mrs.  Severs  admiringly.  "Yes, 
I  will  have  a  cup  of  coffee,  thanks.  I  need 
all  the  stimulation  I  can  get." 

She  was  pale,  and  her  eyes  were  red- 
rimmed,  Eveley  noted  commiseratingly. 

"We  are  expecting  an  addition  to  our  fam- 
ily this  afternoon,  Miss  Ainsworth,"  she  be- 
gan, her  chin  quivering  childishly. 

"Mercy!"  gasped  Eveley. 

"Our   father-in-law,"    added  Mrs.   Severs 


90  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

quickly.  "Dody's  father.  He  is  coming  to 
live  with  us." 

"Oh!"  breathed  Eveley.  "Won't  that  be 
lovely?" 

Mrs.  Severs  burst  into  passionate  weep- 
ing. "It  won't  be  lovely,"  she  sobbed.  "It 
will  be  ghastly."  She  sat  up  abruptly  and 
wiped  her  eyes.  "He  is  the  most  heart- 
breaking thing  you  ever  saw,  and  he  doesn't 
like  me.  He  doesn't  approve  of  dimples,  and 
he  says  I  am  soft.  And  he  has  the  most  des- 
perate old  chum  you  ever  saw,  a  perfect 
wreck  with  red  whiskers,  and  they  get  to- 
gether every  night  and  play  pinochle  and 
smoke  smelly  old  pipes,  and  he  won't  have 
curtains  in  his  bedroom,  and  he  is  crazy 
about  a  phonograph,  and  he  won't  eat  my 
cooking." 

"I  should  think  you  would  like  that,"  said 
Eveley.    "Maybe  he  will  cook  for  himself." 

"That  is  just  it,"  wailed  Mrs.  Severs.  "He 
does.  He  cooks  the  smelliest  kind  of  corn 
beef  and  cabbage,  and  eats  liver  by  the — by 
the  cow,  and  has  raw  onions  with  every  meal. 
And  he  drinks  tea  by  the  gallon.    And  he 


A  WRONG  ADJUSTMENT  91 

cooks  everything  himself  and  piles  it  on  his 
plate  like  a  mountain  and  carries  it  to  the 
table  and  sits  there  and  eats  it  right  before 
company  and  everybody." 

"I  don't  see  how  Mr.  Severs  ever  came  to 
have  a  father  like  that,"  said  Eveley  in  open 
surprise. 

**Well,  the  funny  thing  about  it  is  that  he 
would  really  be  very  nice  if  he  wasn't  so  out- 
rageous. And  he  swears  terribly.  He  says 
'Holy  Mackinaw'  at  everything.  But  he 
loves  Dody.  They  lived  together  for  years, 
and  it  nearly  killed  him  when  Dody  got  mar- 
ried. And  Dody  said,  'You  will  live  with  us 
of  course,  father,'  and  so  we  expected  it.  But 
he  went  off  for  a  visit  after  we  were  married 
— he  and  the  red-whiskered  friend,  and  we 
sort  of  thought — we  kind  of  hoped — miracles 
do  happen,  you  know —  and  so  I  just  kept  be- 
lieving that  something  would  turn  up  to  save 
us.  But  it  didn't.  Dody  got  a  letter  this 
morning,  and  he  will  be  here  this  afternoon. 
Oh,  I  wish  I  were  dead." 

"Is  he  terribly  poor?" 

''Mercy,  no!     He's  got  plenty  of  money. 


92  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

Lots  more  than  we  have.  Enough  to  live  any- 
where he  pleases." 

*'I  see  it  all,"  said  Eveley  ominously.  *'You 
won't  be  happy  with  him,  and  he  won't  be 
happy  with  you,  but  you  are  all  putting  up 
with  it  because  it  is  your — duty." 

*Tes,  that  is  it,  of  course." 

Eveley  poured  herself  another  cup  of  coffee 
and  drank  it  rapidly,  without  cream,  and 
only  one  lump  of  sugar.  "I  am  upset,"  she 
said  at  last.  *This  has  simply  shattered  the 
day  for  me.  Excuse  me,  you'll  have  to  hurry, 
I  only  have  five  minutes  left.  I  haven't  ex- 
plained my  belief  and  principles  to  you — you 
being  young  and  newly  married  and  needing 
all  the  illusions  possible — ^but  I  do  not  believe 
in  duty." 

"Gracious,"  gasped  the  bride.  "You 
don't?" 

"Absolutely  not.  No  human  being  should 
do  his  duty  under  any  conceivable  circum- 
stances. You  see,  there  are  two  kinds,  the 
pleasurable  ,  ones,  and  the  painful  ones. 
Pleasurable  duties  are  done,  not  because  they 
are  duties,  but  because  they  are  pleasurable. 


A  WRONG  ADJUSTMENT  93 

So  they  do  not  count.  And  a  painful  duty  can 
not  be  a  duty  or  it  would  not  be  painful.  My 
idea  is,  that  there  must  be  a  happy  adjust- 
ment of  every  necessity,  so  when  a  duty  is 
painful,  it  is  the  wrong  adjustment.  You  and 
your  father-in-law  are  giving  yourselves  pain 
because  it  is  the  wrong  adjustment." 

"It  sounds  very  clever." 

"It  is  the  only  beautiful  plan  of  life,"  said 
Eveley  modestly. 

"And  then  we  would  not  have  to  live  with 
father  at  all?" 

"Most  certainly  not." 

"It  certainly  is  a  glorious  theory,"  said 
the  bride  enthusiastically.  "You  explain  it 
to  Dody,  will  you?  He  is  positively  death 
on  duty,  especially  when  it  is  painful.  He'd 
do  his  duty  if  it  killed  him  and  me,  burned 
the  house  down  and  started  a  revolution." 

"I  have  to  go  now,"  said  Eveley.  "Excuse 
me  for  rushing  you  off,  but  I  am  late  al- 
ready. I'll  explain  it  to  j^ou  another  time." 

Very  skilfully  she  piloted  her  caller  out 
the  window  and  down  the  rustic  steps. 

"Remember  this,"  she  said  as  they  reached 


94  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

the  bottom.  "As  long  as  duty  is  painful,  it 
is  not  a  duty  and  can  not  be.  Now  find  an- 
other adjustment.  That  is  the  end  of  it." 
And  she  started  on  a  quick  trot  for  the  cor- 
ner. 

"But  father  will  be  here  this  afternoon 
just  the  same,"  called  Mrs.  Severs  after  her 
in  mournful  tones. 

Being  very  businesslike,  Eveley  made  a 
set  of  notes  about  the  case  on  her  way  down- 
town. 

Liver  and  cabbage. 

Raw  onions. 

Smelly  pipe. 

Red-whiskered  friend. 

Pinochle. 

Hates  dimples.  (I'll  keep  my  left  side 
turned  his  way.) 

Money  enough  to  live  on. 

Crazy  about  Dody — christened  Andrew. 

Dody  believes  in  duty. 

"Of  course  it  is  up  to  me  to  save  them," 
she  decided  cheerfully,  and  was  quite  happy 
at  the  prospect  of  an  engagement  in  her 
campaign.     "But    I    can't    neglect    getting 


A  WRONG  ADJUSTMENT  95 

my  car,  even  to  save  human  nature  from  its 
duty,"  she  added.  And  then  her  mind  wan- 
dered from  the  duties  of  brides,  to  the  pleas- 
ures of  young  motorists. 

Her  plan  of  expenditure  was  most  lucid. 
She  would  invest  eighteen  hundred  dollars 
in  a  car,  and  spend  two  hundred  for  clothes 
*'to  sustain  the  illusion."  Nolan  did  not  un- 
derstand exactly  what  she  meant  by  that, 
but  on  general  principles  was  convinced  it 
was  something  reprehensible  and  sneered  at 
it.  The  other  five  hundred  was  to  be  de- 
posited in  the  bank  as  a  guarantee  for  future 
tires  and  gasoline  and  repairs.  Nolan  said 
that  according  to  his  information  it  would  be 
wiser  to  buy  a  second-hand  car  for  five  hun- 
dred, and  keep  the  eighteen  hundred  for 
tires  and  gas  and  repairs. 

But  Nolan  was  a  struggling  young  lawyer 
— even  more  struggling  than  young — and  the 
girls  were  accustomed  to  his  pessimistic  mur- 
murs, and  gave  them  no  heed  at  all. 

Although  Eveley  had  determined  to  con- 
fine herself  to  eighteen  hundred  dollars  for 
the  car,  she  was  not  morally  above  accepting 


96  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

demonstrations  of  cars  entailing  twice,  and 
even  thrice,  that  expenditure.  'Tor,"  she 
said,  "for  all  I  know  somebody  else  may  die 
and  leave  me  some  more,  and  then  I  can  get 
an  expensive  one.  And  besides,  I  feel  it  is 
my  duty — oh,  no,  I  mean  I  feel  it  would  be 
lots  of  fun,  as  a  conscientious  and  enthusi- 
astic motorist  to  know  the  good  points  of 
every  car." 

So  Nolan  assured  her  of  his  complete  sup- 
port and  assistance  in  her  search,  even  to  the 
detriment  of  his  labors  at  the  law  office, 
where  he  hoped  one  day  to  be  a  member  of 
considerable  standing.  Nolan  had  two  fond 
dreams — to  become  a  regular  member  of  the 
firm,  and  to  marry  Eveley.  They  were  closely 
related,  one  to  the  other.  If  he  could  not 
marry  Eveley,  he  had  no  desire  for  a  partner- 
ship nor  anything  else  but  speedy  death.  But 
until  he  had  the  partnership,  he  felt  himself 
morally  obligated  to  deny  himself  Eveley  in 
the  flesh.  For  he  was  one  of  those  unique, 
old-fashioned  creatures  who  feels  that  man 
must  offer  position  and  affluence  as  well  as 
love  to  the  lady  of  his  choice.   So  it  was  no 


A  WRONG  ADJUSTMENT  97 

mere  mercenary  madness  on  his  own  account 
that  kept  Nolan  living  a  life  of  gentle  and 
economic  obscurity,  patient  struggling  for  a 
foothold  on  the  ladder  of  fame  in  his  profes- 
sion. 

He  knew  better  than  to  propose  to  Eveley. 
He  realized  that  if  they  were  once  formally 
and  blissfully  engaged,  he,  being  only  mortal 
man  with  human  frailties,  could  never  resist 
the  charm  of  complete  possession,  and  he 
foresaw  that  betrothal  would  end  in  speedy 
marriage  to  the  death  of  his  determination 
to  bring  his  goddess  glory. 

Thus  Nolan's  lips  were  sealed — on  the  sub- 
ject of  marriage.  ^'Though  goodness  knows, 
he  has  plenty  to  say  about  everything  else,'' 
Eveley  sometimes  complained  rather  plain- 
tively. And  his  attentions  took  the  form  of  a 
more  or  less  pleasant  watch-dog  constancy, 
and  an  always  more  and  never  less  persist- 
ence in  warding  off  other  suitors  not  handi- 
capped by  his  own  scruples  in  regard  to  mat- 
rimony. 


CHAPTER  VII 
PAINFUL  DUTY 

WHEN  Eveley  arrived  home  late  that 
night  she  smiled  to  observe  that  all 
the  down-stairs  windows  were  wide  open  to 
the  breeze,  and  in  the  corner  bedroom,  appor- 
tioned to  Father-in-law,  the  curtains  were 
down.  At  the  back  of  the  house  she  found 
Father-in-law  himself,  with  the  proverbial 
whiskered  friend,  critically  inspecting  her 
rustic  steps  through  the  clouds  of  smoke 
from  their  pipes  which  they  removed  to  fa- 
cilitate their  interested  stares  as  she  ap- 
proached. 

"How  do  you  do?"  she  cried  brightly. 
''You  are  Mr.  Severs,  Senior,  aren't  you? 
Welcome  home!  And  this  is  your  friend,  I 
know."  She  shook  hands  with  them  both, 
with  great  cordiality.  She  must  disarm 
them,  before  she  could  begin  working  them 
into  a  proper  adjustment  with  life.  *'I  am 
Eveley  Ainsworth.  Are  you  admiring  my 
98 


PAINFUL  DUTY  99 

steps?  I  am  very  eccentric  and  tempera- 
mental and  all  that,  and  I  have  to  live  alone. 
I  do  not  like  being  crowded  in  with  other 
folks.  I  like  to  do  as  I  please,  and  not  bother 
with  anybody  else." 

"Very  sensible,  I'm  sure,"  said  Father-in- 
law. 

*'Sure,"  echoed  the  whiskered  one  breezily. 

"That  was  the  first  little  seed,"  she  chuck- 
led to  herself,  as  she  ran  blithely  up  the 
stairs.  Later,  when  she  heard  Mrs.  Severs  in 
the  room  beneath,  she  went  to  the  head  of 
the  inner  stairway  and  called  down  to  her. 

"Come  up  a  minute.    I  want  to  see  you." 

Mrs.  Severs  lost  no  time.  "My  husband 
says  it  is  simply  absurd,"  she  began  breath- 
lessly. "He  says  people  have  to  do  their 
duty.  He  says  a  thing  is  right  or  wrong, 
and  that  settles  it.  We  are  all  father  has  in 
the  world,  and  Dody  says  it  is  plainly  our 
duty  to  keep  him  with  us.  He  says  a  fellow 
would  be  taking  an  awful  chance  to  marry 
you,  if  that  is  a  sample  of  your  principles. 
Don't  you  believe  in  any  duty,  Miss  Ains- 
worth?" 


100  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

''Only  one/'  said  Eveley  with  great  firm- 
ness. 

"Oh,  what  is  that?"  came  the  eager  query. 

'That/'  was  the  dignified  reply,  "is  some- 
thing that  doesn't  enter  into  this  case  at  all, 
and  doesn't  need  to  be  discussed." 

"Well,  Dody  says—" 

"Dody  may  be  a  very  sweet  husband,  but 
he  is  not  progressive.  His  idea  is  old,  out- 
worn and  antedeluvian.  Simply  musty. 
Now,  this  is  my  plan — the  plan  of  progress 
according  to  new  ideas  which  means  happi- 
ness for  all.  Father-in-law  and  the  whisk- 
ered friend  are  bom  for  each  other.  They 
are  affinities,  and  soul-mates,  and  every- 
thing. I  saw  it  at  the  first  glance.  Well 
get  them  a  little  cottage  off  somewhere  be- 
yond the  odor  of  onions,  and  they  can  revel 
in  liver  and  pipes  to  their  hearts'  content." 

"Impossible!  Whiskers  has  a  wife  of  his 
own." 

"What?"  Eveley  was  much  disconcerted. 
'Well,  maybe  she  will  get  a  divorce  so  her 
husband  can  marry  your  father — I  mean — 
maybe  it  won't  stick,  you  know." 


PAINFUL  DUTY  101 

"It's  been  sticking  for  forty  years,  and  I 
suppose  it  will  go  on  forever.  You  see  she 
doesn't  have  him  around  much  and  so  she 
probably  forgets  how  he  is.  He  is  always 
out  with  father,  and  she  is  asleep  when  he 
gets  home." 

''Well,  don't  worry  about  it.  He  had  no 
business  being  married,  for  it  was  a  lovely 
plan — but  it  can't  be  helped  now.  Never 
mind." 

"Listen,"  said  Mrs.  Severs  suddenly. 
"Hear  the  sizzling.  That's  onions.  Didn't  I 
tell  you?  I  was  going  to  have  chicken  cro- 
quettes and  creamed  peas,  with  lettuce  salad 
and  fruit  jello.  But  how  can  Dody  and  I  sit 
down  to  a  decent  meal  with  the  whole  house 
reeking  with  tobacco  and  onions  ?" 

"Never  mind,  dear.  We'll  find  the  adjust- 
ment in  time.    Just  try  to  be  patient." 

For  another  night,  and  another  day, 
Eveley  puzzled  and  pondered — during  inter- 
vals of  studying  motor  folders  and  reading 
advertisements.  And  the  next  evening  she 
found  Mrs.  Severs  wringing  her  hands  on 
the  front  porch. 


102  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"What  is  it?"  she  asked  anxiously.  "Did 
he  kill  himself?" 

"No  such  luck,"  wailed  Mrs.  Severs.  "He 
won't  sleep  in  the  bedroom  because  he  says 
it  is  too  shady  under  all  those  vines,  and 
he  has  moved  himself  out  into  the  living- 
room  on  the  couch.  He  says  there  is  no 
sense  having  a  house  all  cluttered  up  with 
rooms  anyhow,  he  doesn't  believe  in  it.  He 
says  two  rooms  are  enough  for  anybody. 
You  can  cook  and  eat  in  the  kitchen,  and  sit 
and  sleep  in  the  other  room,  and  anything 
more  is  just  plain  tony." 

'*I  tell  you  what,"  suggested  Eveley  bright- 
ly. "Be  mean  to  him.  Be  real  snippy  and 
bossy.  Don't  let  him  have  his  own  way. 
You  just  fire  him  right  back  into  the  bed- 
room. Tell  him  you  are  head  of  this  house, 
and  he's  got  to  mind.  Then  he'll  be  only  too 
glad  to  move  out  and  then  you'll  have  some 
peace." 

"I  can't,"  moaned  Mrs.  Severs.  "He's 
really  kind  of  nice  if  he  wasn't  so  awful.  I 
couldn't  be  mean  to  Dody's  father.  And 
Dody  would  not  let  me  if  I  wanted  to." 


PAINFUL  DUTY  103 

**Well,  don't  worry,"  said  Eveley  automat- 
ically. "I  am  still  working.  We  will  try  every 
different  adjustment,  and  in  time  we  shall 
hit  the  right  one.    Just  keep  happy  and — " 

'*Keep  happy,"  wailed  Mrs.  Severs.  "Don't 
be  sarcastic,  Miss  Ainsworth,  please.  I  never 
expect  to  be  happy  again." 

Then  she  went  home,  and  Eveley  called 
Nolan  on  the  telephone. 

"You  must  come  immediately  and  have 
supper  with  me.  And  stop  on  the  way  and 
get  a  small  steak,  and  ask  the  drug-store  to 
deliver  a  pint  of  ice-cream  at  six-thirty 
sharp.  And  you  might  bring  a  nice  tomato 
if  you  can  remember,  and  I  shall  have  every- 
thing else  ready.  We  won't  have  much  to- 
night, just  steak  and  salad  and  ice-cream. 
I  need  professional  advice." 

Nolan  never  dreamed  of  refusing  an  invi- 
tation of  any  sort  whatever  from  Eveley, 
and  he  started  immediately,  gathering  up  the 
dinner  on  his  way.  As  he  put  his  foot  on 
the  low^est  step  of  the  rustic  stair,  Eveley's 
head  thrust  itself  suddenly  from  between  the 
curtains. 


104  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"There  is  a  proper  adjustment,"  she  said, 
in  a  stem  voice.  *'Just  keep  your  mind  on 
that.  Painful  duty  is  no  duty,  and  can  not 
be.  There  is  a  right  adjustment — and  we 
must  find  it." 

Nolan  continued  warily  up  the  rickety 
stair,  greeting  her  at  the  top  cordially. 

* 'Hello,  Eveley.  My,  the  coffee  smells  good. 
I  am  hungry  as  a  bear,  too.  I  saw  you  out 
last  night  with  that  sad-eyed  Buddy  soldier, 
and  I  do  not  approve  of  it.  I  shall  deem  it  my 
duty  to  administer  a  proper  adjustment  of  his 
facial  characteristics  if  he  doesn't  mind  his 
own  business.  The  ice-cream  will  be  here  at 
six-thirty  sharp.  How  is  Kitty?  You  have 
flour  on  your  ears.  Shall  I  fix  the  tomatoes  ?" 

"I  did  not  bring  you  here  in  a  social  ca- 
pacity to  discuss  personal  matters,"  said 
Eveley  coldly.  *'I  told  you  yesterday  that  my 
home  is  saddened  by  the  grotesque  figure  of 
mal-adjustment  stalking  in  our  midst  under 
his  usual  guise  of  Duty.  As  I  have  explained 
so  many  times,  there  is  bound  to  be  a  happy 
adjustment.  But  this  time  I  can  not  figure 
it  out.    Now  I  call  on  you." 


PAINFUL  DUTY  105 

"Retainer's  fee,  one  hundreds  dollarSo  Pay- 
able, of  course,  in  advance." 

*'0h,  well,  it  is  not  strictly  legal.  Let's  just 
talk  it  over  nicely  as  dear  good  friends,  and 
if  you  have  an  idea  I  can  absorb  it.  Nolan, 
Eileen  said  she  saw  you  at  lunch  to-day  with 
a  woman." 

*'Eileen?  How  is  Eileen?  I  haven't  seen 
her  for  days.  Let's  have  a  party  soon,  and 
invite  Kitty  and  Eileen  and  Miriam  and  me, 
and  you  give  us  a  midnight  supper  here  in 
the  Cote,  will  you?" 

*'It  was  at  the  Grant." 

"I  did  not  see  Eileen,  but  of  course  I  was 
busy.  Was  she  alone  ?  We  had  a  nice  lunch- 
eon— grilled  pork  chops  and  country  gravy. 
The  gravy  was  good — no  lumps.  It  made  me 
think  of  yours." 

"My  gravy  is  not  always  lumpy,"  she  said 
with  a  frown.  "It  just  happened  that  way 
the  last  two  times  because  I  was  called  to  the 
telephone  while  I  was  making  it." 

"Oh,  sure,  that's  all  right." 

He  carefully  adjusted  her  chair  at  the 
table,  and  drew  his  own  close  beside  it,  pull- 


106  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

ing  his  plate  and  silverware  half-way  around 
the  table  from  where  Eveley  had  placed  them. 

"You  look  sweeter  than  ever,  to-night. 
Eve.  But  I  hope  the  gravy  is  not  lumpy." 

**She  wore  a  black  dress  and  white  gloves, 
and  a  black  hat." 

**Eileen  did  ?    Was  it  a  new  dress  ?" 

"No,  the  one  with  you." 

"Sure  enough,  I  believe  she  did.  A 
georgette  dress,  beaded  in  front.  Quite 
pretty.  But  there  was  a  rip  in  her  glove. 
She  showed  it  to  me  herself.  She  said  she 
did  it  on  the  car,  but  it  looked  like  an  old 
rip  to  me." 

"And  after  luncheon  you  went  away  in  her 
car,  didn't  you?" 

"Her  uncle's  car.  Just  for  a  short  run 
through  the  park,  and  then  she  dropped  me 
at  the  office.  Quite  a  pleasant  woman.  She 
was  so  polite  to  me,  and  treated  me  with  such 
gentle  deference.  It  was  quite  a  change.  It 
made  me  think  of  you." 

Eveley  put  down  her  fork.    "Who  was  it  ?" 

"Bartlett's  niece  from  San  Francisco.  Vis- 
iting here.    He  had  promised  to  take  her  for 


PAINFUL  DUTY  107 

luncheon,  but  at  the  last  minute  Graves  came 
in  and  they  were  busy,  so  he  turned  her  over 
to  me." 

"I  do  not  see  why  you  are  always  the  one 
to  take  their  nieces  and  daughters  out  for 
luncheon.  This  is  the  fourth  time  in  two 
months.  I  believe  you  do  it  on  purpose. 
Wliy  should  they  always  pick  on  you  ?" 

"Partly  because  of  my  beauty,  perhaps, 
and  my  charming  manners  as  well  as  my 
generally  winsome  demeanor  in  the  presence 
of  ladies.  I  suppose  Eileen  also  informed  you 
that  this  niece  is  Mrs.  Harmon  Delavan,  and 
has  three  children  in  addition  to  a  husband." 

"Oh,  Nolan,  how  you  do  burble  along.  I 
didn't  bring  you  here  to  discuss  Bartlett's 
relatives.  Now  get  down  to  business.  How 
can  we  adjust  the  honeymooners  and  the 
father-in-law — though  honestly  I  think  he  is 
great  fun  myself,  and  would  a  whole  lot 
rather  live  with  him  than  with  Dody.  Only 
he  does  not  fit  in  with  the  honeymoon  scheme 
of  life." 

"Well,"  said  Nolan  dreamily,  "why  don't 
you  marry  him,  and  bring  him  up  here?" 


108  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"Oh,  Nolan,  you  are  clever.  I  never 
thought  of  that." 

At  the  evident  delight  in  her  voice,  Nolan 
stared. 

"Not  to  me,  goosey,  he  would  never  con- 
sent, for  I  have  a  dimple  and  he  does  not  ap- 
prove of  them.  So  far  I  have  kept  it  on  the 
off  side,  and  he  has  not  noticed,  but  I 
couldn't  always  turn  the  left  side  to  a  hus- 
band, could  I?" 

'Well,  then—" 

"Marry  him  to  somebody  else,  of  course. 
I  can't  just  decide  who — but  there  will  be 
some  one.  You  are  such  a  help,  Nolan.  Now 
let's  not  bother  with  the  duties  of  our  neigh- 
bors, but  have  a  good  time.  To-morrow  I 
shall  find  him  a  wife."  Then  she  leaned  to- 
ward Nolan,  refilling  his  cup,  and  said 
gurglingly,  "Was  he  working  awfully  hard 
at  the  stupid  old  office?" 

"Eveley,  just  one  thing,  while  we  are  on 
our  duties,"  he  said,  catching  her  hand. 
"You  have  made  one  exception,  always,  but 
you  have  never  told  me  what  it  is.  And  it  is 
so  unlike  you  to  except  anything  when  you 


PAINFUL  DUTY  109 

get  started.  What  is  the  one  duty  that  is 
justified  and  necessary?" 

Eveley  promptly  pulled  her  hand  away. 
*That,"  she  said,  "is  purely  personal.  It 
will  not  do  any  one  any  good  to  talk  about 
it.    So  it  is  all  sealed  up  on  the  inside." 

"And  I  shall  never  know  what  your  one 
duty  in  life  is?"  he  asked,  with  mock  plead- 
ing, but  real  curiosity. 

"It  may  hit  you  sometime — ^harder  than 
anybody  else,"  she  said,  laughing.  ''But  in 
the  meantime  let's  talk  of  other  things." 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Severs  had  started  to  work 
the  next  morning,  without  the  tender  fare- 
wells, for  the  presence  of  Father-in-law 
placed  an  instinctive  veto  on  such  demonstra- 
tions— Eveley  kicked  briskly  on  the  floor  as 
a  summons,  and  Mrs.  Severs  answered. 

"Eveley?"  she  called  up  to  the  ceiling. 

And  Eveley  shouted  down  to  the  floor  of 
her  room,  ''Come  up — Fve  got  it." 

At  that  ]\Irs.  Severs  fairly  flew  up  the 
stairs. 

Eveley  caught  her  on  the  landing,  and 
whirled  her  around  the  room  in  a  triumphant 


110  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

dance,  stopping  at  last  so  abruptly  that  Mrs. 
Severs  was  almost  precipitated  to  the  floor. 

"Now  listen.  I've  got  it.  The  proper  ad- 
justment, that  will  make  you  all  happy  and 
prove  my  theory." 

"Yes,  yes,  yes,"  chanted  Mrs.  Severs  ec- 
statically. 

"He  must  get  married." 

"But—" 

"Now  don't  interrupt.  Let  me  finish.  Of 
course  he  has  no  notion  of  such  a  thing,  but 
leave  it  to  me.  We  shall  marry  him  off  be- 
fore he  knows  it.  Vv^e  must  find  the  woman 
first.  Out  at  Chula  Vista  there  are  a  lot  of 
beautiful  elderly  ladies  in  the  Home  who  are 
all  alone  and  would  be  only  too  glad  to  have 
a  cozy  home  and  a — a —  pleasant  husband 
and — all  that.  So  we'll  go  out  on  Saturday 
afternoon  and  look  them  over  and  pick  out 
a  good  one.  Then  I'll  invite  her  to  visit  me 
for  a  week,  and  you  and  I  will  both  be  busy 
so  Father-in-law  will  have  to  entertain  her, 
and  she'll  cut  out  old  Whiskers  in  no  time  at 
all." 

Eveley  flung  out  her  hands  jubilantly. 


PAINFUL  DUTY  111 

Mrs.  Severs  showed  no  enthusiasm.  'That 
is  what  I  wanted  co  tell  you.  He  can't.  He 
is  already  married." 

Eveley  dropped  into  a  chair.  "Married!" 
she  stammered.  "You  told  me  Dody's 
mother  was  dead." 

*'She  is,  of  course.  But  what  I  did  not  tell 
you  is  this.  Three  years  ago  while  Dody 
was  in  France,  father  must  have  sort  of  lost 
his  mind  or  something,  for  without  a  min- 
ute's warning,  he  up  and  married  somebody 
— a  woman,  of  course.  When  Dody  got  home 
from  the  war  she  was  not  there,  and  when 
he  asked  about  her,  father  just  sort  of 
laughed  and  looked  sheepish,  and  said,  'Oh, 
she's  gone  on  a  visit.'  'Where  to?'  Dody 
asked.  'Oh,  somewhere  around,'  said  father. 
*Is  she  coming  back?'  asked  Dody.  'Holy 
Mackinaw,  I  hope  not,'  said  father,  and  that 
is  the  last  we  ever  heard  of  her.  But  of 
course  he  is  still  married." 

It  was  a  hard  blow,  but  Eveley  rallied  at 
last,  though  slowly.  "Don't  worry,"  she 
said  monotonously.  "There  is  another  ad- 
justment. Just  keep  happy — and  give  me 
time." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SHE  MEETS  A  DEMONSTRATOR 

i^^W'OU'VE  simply  got  to  sneak  off  on 
JL  some  pretext  or  another,  and  meet  me 
at  the  Doric  agency  at  three  o'clock  for  a 
demonstration.  They  say  it  is  perfectly  won- 
derful— why,  it  hardly  takes  a  look  of  gas  to 
go  a  thousand  miles,  and  its  tires  are  literally 
cast  iron." 

This  was  her  summons  by  telephone.  And 
Nolan,  determined  not  to  desert  trusting  little 
Eveley  to  the  tender  mercies  of  motor  sharks, 
went  to  the  Middle  Member,  whose  position 
he  confidently  expected  one  day  to  possess, 
and  announced  that  important  business  of  a 
personal  nature  required  his  presence  that 
afternoon.  And  because  Nolan  never  abused 
privileges — or  if  he  did  was  never  detected  in 
the  act — and  because  his  firm  was  composed 
of  human  beings  and  not  the  granite  ma- 
chines common  to  fiction,  Nolan  encountered 
no  difficulty. 

112 


SHE  MEETS  A  DEMONSTRATOR  113 

And  Eveley  went  to  her  own  employer,  and 
smiling  seductively  upon  him,  said  vaguely 
that  some  awfully  important  and  unexpected 
things  had  come  up,  and  could  she  please  get 
off  at  three,  if  she  would  work  particularly 
hard  in  the  meantime  to  make  up  ? 

And  because  Eveley  was  very  pretty,  and 
withal  very  businesslike,  and  pleasant  about 
trifles  like  working  after  hours  and  special 
grinds  and  such  things,  and  because  her  em- 
ployer was  acutely  conscious  of  her  soft 
voice  and  bright  eyes,  he  smiled  in  return 
and  said: 

"Yes,  indeed,  Miss  Ainsworth,  I  heard  you 
phoning  about  it.  Go,  by  all  means,  but  I  do 
not  think  you  will  like  the  Doric.  The  tires 
are  all  right,  but  the  cylinders  are  under 
size,  and  this  causes  a  constant  friction  with 
the  magneto  which  impairs  the  efficiency  and 
makes  the  car  a  poor  climber  and  weak  on 
endurance  runs." 

That  is  probably  not  what  he  said  at  all, 
but  it  is  what  Eveley  understood  him  to  say, 
and  from  it  she  gathered  that  she  might  go 
at  three,  but  that  there  was  something  per- 


114  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

f  ectly  terrible  about  the  Doric  that  made  it 
impossible  for  her  to  buy  it,  but  of  course  she 
could  not  disappoint  the  salesman  with  the 
deep  blue  eyes,  and  so  she  would  have  the 
demonstration  anyhow. 

From  three  o'clock  on,  the  afternoon  was 
a  perfect  daze  of  magnetos  and  batteries  and 
gas  feeders  and  real  leather  upholstery.  But 
Eveley  interrupted  once,  to  run  into  a  drug- 
store to  the  public  telephone,  to  call  Kitty, 
and  when  she  had  her  friend  on  the  wire  she 
said  eagerly: 

"Oh,  Kit,  we  are  trying  out  the  Doric.  It 
is  awfully  good  some  ways,  and  rotten  some 
ways,  and  so  of  course  I  can't  buy  it,  but  the 
salesman  has  the  most  irresistible  eyes  you 
ever  saw  in  your  life,  and  so  I  am  wearing  my 
new  blue  veil,  and  I  look  a  dream  in  it.  Now 
you  scoot  up  to  the  Cote,  will  you,  and  have 
supper  ready  for  us  at  six — Nolan  and  me. 
If  Nolan  were  not  along  I  might  bring  the 
blue-eyed  Doric  man,  but  he  is  so  overbearing 
about  those  things — Nolan,  I  mean.  Get  a 
nice  juicy  steak,  he  needs  nourishment.  I 
think  if  I  could  feed  him  constantly  for  a 


SHE  MEETS  A  DEMONSTRATOR   115 

month  and  save  him  from  the  restaurants  he 
might  develop  enough  animal  magnetism  to 
— anyhow,  he  needs  the  steak,  so  get  a  good 
one  at  Hardy's  and  charge  it  to  me.  And 
will  you  go  by  the  cleaners,  and  get  my  motor 
gloves — they  said  it  would  only  be  a  quarter 
for  the  cleaning,  so  don't  pay  them  a  cent 
more.  Will  you  ?  That's  a  nice  girl." 

At  six  o'clock,  wearily,  happily,  still  dis- 
coursing earnestly  of  magnetos  and  batteries, 
Eveley  and  Nolan  climbed  the  rickety  rustic 
steps,  brightening  visibly  as  the  odor  of 
broihng  steak  and  frying  potatoes  was 
wafted  out  to  them.  Nolan  went  in  first, 
carefully  stepping  out  of  the  way  before  he 
reached  a  hand  to  assist  Eveley,  for  he  knew 
that  she  would  fall  headlong  among  the 
cushions  she  kept  conveniently  placed  for 
that  purpose.  "It  is  easy  enough  getting  in, 
if  you  take  your  time,"  she  always  said  de- 
fensively to  criticizing  friends.  "But  I  am 
usually  in  a  hurry  myself,  so  I  keep  the 
cushions  handy." 

On  this  evening,  being  tired,  she  remained 
on   the   floor   where   she   had   comfortably 


116  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

landed,  and  lazily  removed  her  hat  and  veil, 
tossing  them  lightly  into  a  distant  corner. 

'If  it  wasn't  for  the  carburetor  rubbing 
on  the  spark  plugs,"  she  said  plaintively,  *l'd 
get  the  Doric  in  spite  of  everything.  Did 
you  ever  see  such  blue  eyes  in  your  life, 
Nolan?" 

"The  Mason  is  a  better  car  in  every  way," 
he  said  flatly.  "Strongly  built,  low  hung, 
smart-looking,  and  the  engine  perfect." 

Eveley  frowned.  "Isn't  that  like  a  man? 
The  Mason !  I  wish  you  could  have  seen  him, 
Kitty.  Fifty  years  old  if  he  was  a  day,  and 
bald,  and  two  double  chins.  And  talked 
through  his  nose.  And  what  do  you  suppose 
he  talked  about?  His  wife — and  how  she 
loves  the  Mason.  What  do  I  care  what  his 
wife  thinks  about  the  Mason?  I  wouldn't 
have  the  Mason  if  he  offered  me  one.  I'll 
bet  it  is  so  easy  riding  that  it  fairly  sprouts 
double  chins — on  the  drivers." 

"You  are  buying  a  car,  Eveley — not  a 
driver,"  Nolan  explained. 

"But  the  Doric  is  rather  light  in  weight, 
and  very  high  in  price.     How  I  wish  you 


SHE  MEETS  A  DEMONSTRATOR   117 

could  have  heard  him  tell  about  it,  Kitty. 
When  he  said  carburetor  it  was  just  like 
running  up  a  scale  of  music.  And  his  finger- 
nails were  manicured  as  nicely  as  my  own." 

"Is  dinner  ready  ?"  Nolan  interrupted  furi- 
ously. *'Come  and  eat.  Great  Scott!  That 
girl  would  buy  a  bum  car  and  a  costly  one,  be- 
cause the  demonstrator  has  shined  his  nails." 

"And,  Kitty,  he  said  if  we  could  go  to-mor- 
row evening  at  five-thirty  he  would  take  us 
to  La  Jolla  to  show  us  how  she  climbs  the 
grades.    She  will  go  up  on  high." 

"When  did  he  say  that?"  interrupted 
Nolan.  "I  can  not  go  with  you  to-morrow 
night.  Don't  you  remember  I  told  you  we 
had  a  meeting — " 

"I  know,  dear.  I  am  so  sorry.  But  Kitty 
will  go  with  us,  won't  you?" 

"Will  I?"  echoed  Kitty  ecstatically.  "Won't 
I?  Do  you  suppose  they  have  another  one, 
with  brown  eyes,  to  go  along  to — to  change 
tires,  or  anything?" 

"I  don't  know,  but  we  can  ask.  He  is  going 
to  phone  me  at  the  office  to-morrow  to  find 
out  where  to  call  for  us.    He  is  very  respect- 


118  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

able.  He  goes  to  the  Methodist  Church,  and 
his  uncle  is  a  banker  in  Philadelphia." 

"Pass  the  potatoes,  for  heaven's  sake," 
urged  Nolan.  "I  feel  sick."  And  after  a 
while  he  went  on,  persuasively:  *'There  is 
no  use  to  try  that  car  out  again,  Eveley.  It 
is  no  good.  Or  if  you  insist  on  it  put  it  off 
until  the  next  night,  and  I  will  go  with  you. 
We'll  all  three  go.  Make  a  foursome  if  you 
like,  with  Kitty  and  the  blue-eyed  mutt." 

*'Kitty  does  not  like  blue  eyes.  And  be- 
sides, I  am  the  one  to  be  demonstrated  to. 
And  besides,"  she  v/inked  at  Kitty  drolly, 
"I  am  sure  he  will  be  busy  the  rest  of  the 
week.  For  when  I  mentioned  that  you  had 
an  appointment  to-morrow  he  said  most 
particularly  that  to-morrow  was  the  only  free 
evening  he  had  for  weeks  to  come.  And  that 
reminds  me,  Nolan,  that  your  advice  about 
Father-in-law  was  no  good.  He  is  married 
already,  and  it  is  your  fault,  getting  me 
buoyed  up  with  hope,  all  to  no  purpose." 

Nolan  was  properly  regretful. 

*'Do  you  think  the  old  man  likes  to  live 
with  them?"  he  asked. 


SHE  MEETS  A  DEMONSTRATOR   119 

"No,  of  course  not.  He  hates  it.  He  al- 
most shudders  when  I  tell  him  how  lovely- 
it  is  to  have  a  son  and  daughter  to  live  with. 
But  I  suppose  he  thinks  it  is  his  duty  to 
stick,  just  as  they  think  it  is  theirs  to  make 
him  stick.  People  are  so  absurd,  aren't 
they?" 

"Yes,  very,"  he  said  soberly,  his  eyes  in- 
tent on  Eveley's  hair  curling  so  tenderly 
about  her  ears.  And  he  was  really  thinking 
how  very  absurd  it  was  that  a  rising  young 
lawyer  should  find  it  so  tempting  to  touch 
that  bit  of  curl,  and  to  kiss  it.  Very  absurd 
indeed ! 

"Are  you  thinking  of  something?"  she 
asked  hopefully,  looking  into  his  earnest 
eyes. 

"Yes,  indeed."  And  he  forced  his  eyes 
away  from  the  distracting  curls.  "Yes,  in- 
deed I  am." 

"What  is  it?"  she  begged,  leaning  toward 
him  and  slipping  her  fingers  with  childish 
eagerness  into  his  hand. 

"Why — just  tempt  him,"  he  stammered. 

"Tempt  him,  Nolan.    'Holy  Mackinav/,'  as 


120  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

Father-in-law  says,  what  do  you  mean,  tempt 
him?" 

In  this  predicament,  Nolan  was  forced  to 
concentrate.  Why  in  the  world  had  he  said, 
* 'Tempt  him  ?"  The  temptation  of  Eveley  had 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  father-in-laws 
and  the  adjustment  of  duty.  But  Eveley  ex- 
pected him  to  produce  a  tangible  and  reason- 
able explanation. 

"Why,  just  tempt  him,  Eveley.  You  know 
what  temptation  is,  don't  you  ?  Then  do  it." 
This  was  merely  playing  for  time,  seeking 
for  illumination.  "Just — ^keep  it  always  be- 
fore him,  you  know — how  nice  it  would  be 
to  get  off  alone  and  be  independent."  Nolan 
was  a  lawyer,  and  having  forced  a  foothold, 
he  made  it  secure.  "Tempt  him  with  free- 
dom, talk  to  him  about  the  joys  of  privacy, 
unrestrained  intercourse  with  his  whiskered 
crony,  the  delights  of  unlimited  liver  and 
onions,  a  bed  in  the  sitting-room,  meals  by 
the  kitchen  fire,  and  a  jar  of  tobacco  on  every 
chair.  See?  Tempt  him  until  he  can't  stand 
it." 

Eveley  looked  at  him  appraisingly.    "Nolan 


SHE  MEETS  A  DEMONSTRATOR   121 

Inglish,  you  are  a  whole  lot  cleverer  than  I 
ever  thought  you  were.  That  is  real  talent. 
You  have  found  the  adjustment  this  time.  I 
feel  it." 

Nolan,  intoxicated  with  the  warmth  of  her 
voice,  the  subtle  flattery  of  word  and  tone, 
rushed  on. 

**Let's  find  him  a  house,  just  a  bit  of  a 
shack  with  a  little  garden  and  a  mangy  dog, 
and  then  razzle  him  with  the  vision  of  in- 
dependence, and  show  him  the  house." 

Then  Eveley  stood  up.  "Will  you  help  me 
do  this,  Nolan  ?  You  get  nicer  every  day  of 
your  life." 

And  Nolan,  except  for  the  presence  of 
Kitty,  would  surely  have  said  what  he  had 
no  earthly  business  to  say  to  Eveley  yet — 
until  circumstances  and  the  Senior  Member 
made  it  justifiable. 

He  sat  glowering  and  grim  at  the  Impor- 
tant Meeting  the  next  evening,  when  he 
should  have  been  gratified  that  his  presence 
was  desired — for  Maley  wasn't  there,  nor 
Garland,  nor  Alverson.  But  in  spite  of  the 
Honor,  and  the  Significance,  Nolan's  mind 


122  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

was  wandering.  He  lost  sight  of  the  Truly 
Greats,  and  saw  only  a  cloudy  picture  of 
Eveley,  soft,  sweet  and  dimply,  sitting  rapt 
by  the  side  of  the  Darned  Blue  Eyes.  And 
that  night,  at  eleven  o'clock,  on  his  way  to 
his  modest  room,  he  suddenly  started.  Com- 
ing demurely  out  of  the  Grant,  he  saw  Eveley 
and  the  blue-eyed  one,  and  laughing  beside 
them,  Kitty  and  some  other  equally  repre- 
hensible being.  Nolan  could  hardly  believe 
the  evidence  of  his  own  eyes. 

He  fumed  openly  while  he  allowed  them  a 
decent  interval  for  reaching  home,  and  then 
called  Eveley  by  telephone. 

"Eveley,  I  thought  I  saw  you  and  Kitty 
coming  out  of  the  Grant  with  some  men  a 
little  while  ago." 

''Oh,  did  you  ?"  Eveley's  voice  was  vibrant 
with  surprise. 

"Yes." 

"Isn't  that  funny?"  she  laughed  a  little, 
softly. 

"Well,  were  you?" 

"Were  we  what?" 

"Were  you  there?" 


SHE  MEETS  A  DEMONSTRATOR   123 

"Why,  yes,  of  course.  We  stopped  for  a 
sandwich.  We  missed  our  dinner.  The  en- 
gine broke  do\vn  on  the  Biological  Grade, 
and  held  us  up  for  quite  a  while." 

"Eveley— " 

"Oh,  it  was  perfectly  all  right.  He  found 
out  to-day  that  he  had  a  friend  who  is  a 
life-long  friend  of  Kitty's  and  he  brought  him 
along,  and  we  were  all  nicely  introduced  and 
everything  was  as  proper  as  you  please." 

"Did  you  buy  the  car?"  he  asked  wither- 
ingly. 

"Oh,  no,  he  advised  me,  confidentially,  not 
to.  He  is  going  to  change  to  the  Bemis 
agency  to-morrow,  and  he  thinks  he  will  find 
it  much  more  satisfactory.  Wasn't  it  a  lovely 
night?  Did  you  have  a  nice  time  with  the 
High  and  Mighties?  Kitty  is  going  to  stay 
all  night  with  me,  and  we  are  just  making 
some  hot  chocolate.  Won't  you  come  for  a 
cup? — Oh,  just  Kitty  and  I,  and  it  is  quite 
early.  Come  along,  and  we'll  tell  you  all  the 
bad  points  about  the  Doric.  But  they  say  the 
Bemis  is  a  wonder." 


CHAPTER  IX 

ADMITTING  DEFEAT 

THE  first  Saturday  after  the  organization 
of  the  Irish- American  League  brought  a 
blessed  spring  rain,  especially  heaven-sent  on 
her  account,  Eveley  felt  quite  sure,  for  she 
was  greatly  worn  from  coping  with  motor 
salesmen  and  the  father-in-law  situation. 
And  this  was  a  rain  that  not  even  boys  could 
stand,  so  she  had  a  blissful  afternoon  alone, 
purring  and  puttering  about  contentedly  in 
her  Cloud  Cote. 

But  on  the  second  Saturday,  according  to 
agreement,  the  League  met  in  the  appointed 
field  for  a  game.  This  was  Eveley's  first  op- 
portunity to  witness  the  development  of 
American  principles  in  her  chosen  flotsam. 
The  meeting  had  been  called  for  one-thirty, 
and  although  Eveley  arrived  fifteen  minutes 
early  she  found  the  field  occupied  by  fully 
twenty  youths  of  varying  sizes,  colors  and 

124 


ADMITTING  DEFEAT  125 

brogues.  She  gazed  upon  the  motley  array 
in  helpless  horror. 

"Ern  Swanson  is  going  to  be  the  captain," 
said  John  Hop,  with  his  ingratiating  Oriental 
smile.  "We  just  had  an  election  and  elected 
him." 

"But  we  already  have  a  captain,"  protested 
Eveley,  looking  not  without  sympathy  to  the 
corner  where  Ivan  Kerensky  nursed  his  hu- 
miliation. 

"We  didn't  know  Em  was  coming  in,"  said 
Alfredo  Masseno,  who  had  hurried  up  with 
half  a  dozen  others  to  greet  her.  "Em,  he 
ought  to  be  the  captain.  He's  awful  rough; 
and  baseball,  why,  he  eats  baseball  alive !  And 
he  won't  come  in  unless  he  is  the  captain, 
and  if  he  don't  come  with  us  he'll  join  the 
Red  Dogs  on  National  Avenue,  and  we  want 
him  with  us  because  we  have  challenged  them 
to  a  game  and  if  they  get  Ern  they'll  lick 
us." 

Then  the  newly  elected  captain  sauntered 
up,  his  good-natured  face  reflecting  the  glory 
of  his  new  command  as  well  as  his  natural 
Swedish  temperament. 


126  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

"He  doesn't  look  rough,"  said  Eveley  crit- 
ically. 

*'No'm,  not  when  things  suits  him,  but  you 
ought  to  see  him  when  he  is  mad.  Golly! 
Why,  even  the  cops  lets  that  kid  alone." 

*'But  it  isn't  parliamentary — I  mean,  it 
isn't  proper  to  have  one  election  after  an- 
other like  this.  We  chose  one  captain,  and 
we  ought  to  stand  by  him." 

"That  wasn't  no  quorum  what  elected  him, 
ma'm,"  said  Ern  Swanson,  smiling  broadly. 
"They  was  only  eight  in  the  club  then,  and 
now  we  got  twenty-three.  That  little  bunch 
o'  Greasers  couldn't  represent  us.  No,  ma'm. 
We  want  regular  Americans  at  the  head  of 
this  club,  and  so  we  had  a  regular  election." 

Eveley  knew  this  was  dead  against  Amer- 
ican principles,  and  she  looked  once  more  to- 
w^ard  the  sulking  ex-captain.  Then  she  re- 
membered that  he  had  won  his  own  election 
in  her  absence  by  plain  coercion,  and  de- 
cided to  pass  this  one  irregularity,  but  never 
again. 

"Very  well,  then,"  she  said  weakly,  "have 
it  your  own  way  this  time.    But  there  must 


ADMITTING  DEFEAT  127 

be  no  more  elections  until  the  right  time. 
Now,  what  are  you  going  to  do?  Have  a 
practise  game  ?  Then  suppose  we  let  Ivan  be 
captain  of  the  second  team,  anyhow,  and  you 
can  pick  your  men  and  have  a  good  game." 
This  seemed  a  simple  proposition  to  Eveley 
in  her  innocence,  but  on  a  sudden,  pande- 
monium reigned.  The  whole  crowd  of  boys 
propelled  itself  violently  into  the  air,  and 
there  was  a  shrieking  of  voices  and  a  tossing 
of  bats  and  gloves,  and  a  seemingly  endless 
number  of  arms  flying  about.  From  out  the 
clamor  Eveley  could  distinguish  repeated 
hoarse  roars  of  "Pi-i-i-i-tcher,"  'Ti-i-i-i-tch- 
er,"  "Ca-a-a-a-a-atcher,"  *'Ca-a-a-a-atcher," 
and  she  retired  to  a  remote  spot  to  await  the 
proper  moment  for  gathering  up  the  re- 
mains. Being  a  lady,  she  could  make  no  sense 
at  all  of  the  deadly  uproar,  and  she  was 
quite  thrilled  and  charmed  when  of  a  sudden 
the  tumult  subsided,  and  she  found  that  out 
of  that  apparently  aimless  clamor,  two  teams 
had  been  selected  and  the  players  assigned  to 
their  various  positions  on  the  field.  It  vras 
black  maofic  to  her. 


128  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

Eveley  thought  she  knew  baseball.  She 
knew  what  a  "foul"  was,  and  she  knew  what 
happened  when  one  passed  four  balls,  and  she 
knew  when  one  was  out.  And  she  had  often 
said  fatuously  that  she  loved  baseball,  be- 
cause she  understood  it.  But  she  did  not  un- 
derstand it.  She  understood  a  mild  respect- 
able game  that  was  played  by  scholarly  young 
men  in  college.  Baseball  as  played  by  the 
wild  creatures  on  that  Saturday  afternoon 
was  a  sealed  book  to  her.  And  she  devoutly 
hoped  and  prayed  it  would  remain  sealed. 
She  felt  that  death  would  be  preferable  to  a 
full  working  knowledge  of  what  went  on  in 
the  Irish-American  Club  that  afternoon. 

For  an  interval  of  perhaps  three  minutes 
the  thing  progressed  with  some  degree  of 
reason.  Then  issued  a  sudden  roar  from  a 
dozen  throats,  every  one  came  tearing  in 
from  his  proper  location  on  the  field,  and 
there  was  a  yelling,  huddled  group  in  the 
center.  Then  Eveley  crept  timidly  from  the 
corner  where  she  was  engaging  in  prayer  for 
the  safety  of  herself  and  her  club,  and  ad- 
vanced cautiously  toward  the  swaying  pile 
of  shrieking  boys. 


ADMITTING  DEFEAT  129 

She  placed  soft  entreating  hands  on  the 
outside  layer,  she  even  jumped  up  and 
down  and  yelled  "Boys,"  at  the  top  of  her 
healthy  voice.  But  she  was  only  an  atom  in 
a  world  gone  upside  down.  Presently,  how- 
ever, and  from  no  reason  she  could  determine, 
the  mob  disentangled  itself  into  distinct  en- 
tities, the  roar  subsided  into  a  few  threaten- 
ing growls  and  murmurs,  and  Captain  Swan- 
son  hitched  up  his  trousers  and  yelled  "Play 
bair'  triumphantly.  Then  the  game  went  on. 
This  identical  thing  occurred  at  intervals  of 
about  eight  minutes  during  the  entire  after- 
noon. 

Eveley  hoped  devoutly  that  she  was  by  her 
very  presence  helping  to  Americanize  these 
particular  bits  of  flotsam  and  jetsam — she 
trusted  so.  She  was  quite  confident  that  so 
much  personal  agonizing  on  her  part  ought 
to  be  doing  something  to  the  wild  beings. 
But  there  was  no  apparent  development. 

She  stood  her  ground  bravely  until  four 
o'clock,  and  then,  thanks  to  the  merciful 
Providence  who  protects  the  fools  gone  in 
where  angels  would  not  dare,  it  seemed  the 


130  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

whole  club  had  to  set  about  delivering  papers. 
Buf  as  there  were  important  details  to  be 
attended  to,  such  details  as  arranging  for  a 
permanent  place  to  play,  and  providing  pro- 
tection for  the  balls  and  bats  bought  from 
Eveley's  inheritance,  and  paying  dues,  it  was 
decided  to  have  a  meeting  in  the  Service  Hall 
that  evening  at  seven. 

Eveley  went  home,  and  to  bed. 

At  six-thirty  she  got  up,  made  a  percolator 
full  of  strong  coffee  and  drank  it  all. 

Then  she  went  to  the  Service  Hall  to  meet 
the  Irish-American  Bloodhounds,  as  she  ir- 
reverently called  them  in  her  inner  heart. 

Eveley  was  out  of  her  element,  and  she 
knew  it. 

She  was  bent  on  Americanization,  but  not 
this  kind.  She  would  be  glad  to  assist  in  the 
development  of  quick  and  kind-eyed  Angelo 
at  the  office,  or  the  courteous  Jap  in  the  tea 
garden,  but  for  a  baseball  club  she  Had  no 
talent.  She  explained  her  needs  and  her  de- 
ficiencies to  the  manager  of  the  Recreation 
Center,  and  he  finally  agreed  that  the  Blood- 
hounds needed  a  young  virile  athlete  as  their 


ADMITTING  DEFEAT  131 

director.  "And  for  his  own  sake,"  said 
Eveley  almost  tearfully,  "he  ought  to  be  a 
pugilist.  I  say  this  for  his  good.  We 
need  all  our  assimilators  and  should  not  ex- 
pose them  to  sudden  and  violent  death." 

Then  Eveley  talked  to  the  boys,  and  told 
them  how  she  had  enjoyed  and  liked  them, 
but  explained  that  being  only  a  woman  she 
was  terribly  handicapped,  and  so  would 
leave  them  to  the  discretion  of  one  yet  to  be 
selected.  She  hoped  they  would  remember 
they  were  good  Americans,  that  they  stood 
for  honor  and  loyalty  and  right.  Then  she 
thanked  God  she  was  free,  took  her  coat  and 
hat  and  went  out. 

"Why,  Miss  Ainsworth!  Is  it  really  you? 
W^iat  in  the  world  are  you  doing  here  ?" 

Eveley,  startled  on  the  threshold  of  the 
Service  Club,  looked  up  into  the  face  of  the 
blue-eyed  Bemis  salesman. 

"Oh,  Mr.  Hiltze,"  she  said  mysteriously. 
"It  is  a  deadly  secret.  You  must  never 
breathe  a  word  of  it.  But  since  you  have 
caught  me  in  the  act,  I  may  as  well  confess. 
I  am  an  Americanizer." 


132  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

"Great  Scott!" 

*'You  know  what  that  is,  don't  you  ?  Help- 
ing to  sort  out  and  assimilate  the  flotsam 
and  jetsam  of  the  foreign  element,  and  imbue 
it  with  sturdy  American  principles,  and  all 
that." 

Mr.  Hiltze  laughed. 

"Perhaps  you  do  not  understand  the  new 
great  movement  of  Americanization,"  she 
said  with  dignity.  "It  is  the  one  immense 
fine  movement  of  the  day.  It  is  to  effect  the 
amalgamation  of  all  the  riff-raff  of  humanity 
into  a  new  America."  Eveley  did  not  men- 
tion the  quotation  marks  which  circled  her 
words. 

"That  is  wonderful,"  he  said  warmly.  "It 
is  a  great  surprise  and  a  great  pleasure,  to 
find  women  of  your  type  taldng  an  interest 
in  this  progressive  movement." 

Eveley  leaned  excitedly  toward  him.  "Oh, 
Mr.  Hiltze,  are  you  interested  in  it,  too?" 

"None  more  so,  though  like  yourself  I  feel 
the  best  work  is  done  silently  and  unobtru- 
sively, and  I  prefer  not  to  be  exploited  from 
the  housetops." 


ADMITTING  DEFEAT  133 

"Oh,  this  gives  me  courage  again — ^and  I 
had  nearly  lost  it.  Have  you  been  working 
to-night  ?  Are  you  through  for  the  evening  ?" 

"Yes,  and  if  your  labors  have  been  as  ex- 
haustive and  soul-wracking  as  mine,  perhaps 
you  can  spare  an  hour  for  nourishment  with 
me  at  the  Grant.  Of  all  the  jobs  in  the  world! 
Selling  motors  is  a  game  beside  it." 

*'We  agree  again.  I  think  it  was  rather 
foolish  of  me  to  tackle  it  in  the  beginning. 
I  haven't  brains  enough.  Those  boys  may  be 
flotsam  and  jetsam  and  all  that,  but  they 
know  more  about  patriotism  than  I  do.  Why, 
one  little  Italian,  the  cutest  thing,  with 
dimples  and  curly  hair,  told  me  more  about 
country-love  than  I  could  have  thought  up 
in  a  month.  He  says,  isn't  it  patriotic 
for  them  to  come  here  and  pick  up  all  the 
good  they  can,  and  take  it  back  to  enrich 
their  ovm  country?  And  when  you  come 
right  down  to  it,  isn't  it  ?  Anyhow,  the  httle 
Italians  and  Mexicans  and  Jews  and  I  have 
organized  an  Irish-American  Baseball  Team, 
and  I  suppose  we  are  amalgamating  some- 
thing into  something.    I  think  they  are  amal* 


134  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

gamating  me.  I  feel  terribly  amalgamated 
right  now." 

'T  am  not  in  sympathy  with  the  club  idea," 
said  Hiltze  thoughtfully,  as  they  turned  down 
Broadway  toward  the  Grant.  *'It  is  such  a 
treat  to  find  your  kind  of  woman  in  this — I 
mean,  the  womanly  kind— I  abhor  the  high- 
brow women  that  are  so  full  of  forward  move- 
ment they  can't  settle  down  to  pal  around 
comfortably  and  be  human." 

Eveley,  too,  was  kindling  with  the  charm 
of  a  common  interest  and  enthusiasm.  Nolan 
took  a  very  masculine  stand  on  the  subject. 
He  said  bruskly  that  the  growth  of  Amer- 
icanization must  come  from  Americans.  He 
said  you  couldn't  cram  American  ideals  into 
the  foreign-bom  until  the  home-born  lived 
them.  And  he  said  the  way  to  "teach  Amer- 
icanization was  by  being  a  darned  good  Amer- 
ican yourself  inside  and  outside  and  all  the 
way  through."  Which  may  have  been  good 
sense,  but  was  no  help  in  the  forward  move- 
ment. 

So  Eveley  looked  upon  Mr.  Hiltze  with 
great  friendliness  and  sympathy,  though  she 


ADMITTING  DEFEAT  135 

did  glance  up  at  the  National  Building  as 
they  went  by,  noticing  the  light  in  Nolan's 
window,  wondering  if  he  was  working  hard 
— and  if  the  work  necessitated  the  presence 
of  the  new,  good-looking  stenographer  the 
firm  had  lately  acquired. 

*'Now,  my  idea  of  Americanization,"  Mr. 
Hiltze  was  saying  when  she  finally  tore  her 
thoughts  away  from  the  National  Building, 
*'is  pure  personal  effort.  You  take  a  club, 
and  mix  a  lot  of  nationalities,  and  types,  and 
interests  up  together — they  work  upon  one 
another,  and  work  upon  you,  and  you  get 
nowhere.  But  take  an  individual.  Get  chum- 
my with  liim.  Be  with  him.  Study  him. 
Make  him  like  you — interest  him  in  your 
work,  and  your  sport,  and  your  life — and 
there  you  have  an  American  pretty  soon. 
Club  work  is  not  definite,  not  decisive.  It 
is  the  personal  touch  that  counts.  You  could 
fritter  away  hours  with  a  baseball  club,  and 
end  at  last  just  where  you  began.  But  you 
put  the  same  time  into  definite  personal  con- 
tact with  one  individual  foreigner — a  girl,  of 
course  it  would  be  in  your  case — it  is  young 


136  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

men  in  mine.  You  take  a  girl — a  foreigner — 
win  her  confidence,  then  her  interest,  then 
her  love — and  you've  made  an  American. 
That  is  the  only  Americanization  that  will 
stick.  Suppose  in  a  whole  year  you  have  won 
only  one — still  see  what  you  have  done.  That 
one  will  go  out  among  her  friends,  her  rela- 
tives, she  will  marry  and  have  children — and 
your  Americanization  is  sown  and  re-sown, 
and  goes  on  multiplying  itself — yes,  forever." 

"You  are  right,"  said  Eveley.  "And  you 
find  me  a  girl,  and  I  will  do  it." 

"It  is  a  bargain,"  he  said  quickly,  stopping 
in  the  street  to  grasp  her  hand.  "You  are  a 
little  thoroughbred,  aren't  you?  It  may  take 
time,  but  as  I  go  about  among  the  young 
men  I  work  with — well,  I  am  pretty  sure  to 
find  a  girl  among  them." 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  ORIGINAD  FIXER 

44/^  H,  NOLAN,"  came  Eveley's  voice  over 

^^  the  telephone,  in  its  most  wheedling 
accent,  "I  am  so  sorry  to  spoil  our  little  party 
for  to-night,  but  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
just  this  once.  The  most  utterly  absurd  case 
of  painful  duty  you  ever  heard  of.  And  al- 
though you  do  not  exactly  approve  of  my 
campaign,  you  would  simply  have  to  agree 
with  me  this  time.    And — " 

"Well,  since  I  can't  help  it,  I  can  stand  it," 
he  said  patiently.  "What  is  it  this  time? 
Some  silly  woman  finding  it  her  duty  to  house 
and  home  all  straying  and  wounded  cats,  or 
a  young  girl  determined  to  devote  her  life  to 
the  salvation  of  blue-eyed  plumbers,  or — " 

"It  is  a  man,"  she  interrupted,  rather 
acidly. 

"Ah,"  came  in  guarded  accents. 

There  was  silence  for  a  time. 
137 


138  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

"A  man,"  he  repeated  encouragingly, 
though  not  at  all  approvingly. 

*'Yes.  A  long  time  ago  he  very  carelessly 
engaged  himself  to  a  giddy  little  butterfly  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  and  he  doesn't  want  to  marry 
her  at  all,  but  he  feels  it  is  his  duty  because 
they  have  been  engaged  for  so  many  years. 
Isn't  it  pitiful?" 

*'But  it  is  none  of  your  business,"  he  be- 
gan sternly. 

"It  is  another  engagement  with  the  enemy 
in  my  campaign,"  she  insisted.  "Oh,  just 
think  of  it — the  insult  to  love,  the  profana- 
tion of  the  sacrament  of  marriage — the — 
the — the  insult  to  womanhood — " 

"You  said  insult  before." 

"Yes,  but  just  think  of  it.  I  feel  it  is  my 
duty  to  save  him." 

"Where  did  you  come  across  him?" 

"He  is  the  new  member  of  our  firm.  I  told 
you  about  him  long  ago.  The  good-looking 
one.  He  has  been  with  us  six  months,  but  I 
am  just  getting  acquainted  with  him.  We 
had  luncheon  together  to-day,  and  he  told 
me  about  it.    He  doesn't  like  social  butter- 


THE  ORIGINAL  FIXER  139 

flies  at  all,  he  likes  clever,  practical  girls, 
with  high  ideals,  and — " 

''Like  you,  of  course." 

*'Yes,  of  course.  I  explained  my  theory  to 
him,  and  he  was  perfectly  enchanted  with  it. 
But  he  could  not  quite  grasp  it  all  in  those 
few  minutes — it  is  rather  deep,  you  know — 
and  so  he  is  coming  up  to  dinner  to-night  to 
make  a  thorough  study  of  it.  He  feels  it  is 
his  one  last  hope,  and  if  it  fails  him,  he  is 
lost  in  the  sea  of  a  loveless  marriage." 

"I  do  not  object  to  your  fishing  him  out 
of  the  loveless  sea,"  Nolan  said  plaintively. 
'*But  I  do  object  to  his  eating  the  steak  you 
promised  me." 

"Think  of  the  cause,"  she  Begged.  'Think 
of  the  glory  of  winning  another  duty-bound 
soul  to  the  boundless  principles  of  freedom. 
Think  of—" 

"I  can't  think  of  anything,  Eveley,"  he  said 
sadly,  "except  that  good-looking  fellow  eating 
my  steak,  cooked  by  the  hands  of  my  er — 
girl." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  took  it  very  seri- 
ously.   For  while  he  was  still  firmly  wedded 


140  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

to  his  ideal  of  fame  and  fortune,  he  was  un- 
ceasingly haunted  by  the  fearful  nightmare 
of  some  interloper  "beating  his  time,"  as  he 
crudely  but  patently  expressed  it. 

He  spent  a  long  and  dreary  evening,  fol- 
lowed by  other  evenings  equally  long  and 
dreary,  for  the  Good-Looking  Young  Member 
found  great  difficulty  in  mastering  the  in- 
tricacies of  a  Dutiless  Life,  and  Eveley  con- 
tinued his  education  with  the  greatest  pa- 
tience, and  some  degree  of  pleasure. 

Her  interest  in  the  pursuit  of  motors  did 
not  wane,  however,  and  after  trying  every 
known  make  of  car,  and  investigating  the 
advance  reports  of  all  cars  designed  for  man- 
ufacture in  the  early  future,  she  blithely  in- 
vested her  fortune  in  a  sturdy  blue  Rolls- 
mobile,  and  was  immediately  enraptured  with 
the  sensation  of  absolute  control  of  a  throb- 
bing engine. 

She  found  it  no  trifling  matter  to  attend  to 
her  regular  duties  as  private  secretary,  to 
keep  her  Cloud  Cote  dainty  and  sweet  as  of 
yore,  to  be  out  in  her  little  blue  car  on  every 
possible  occasion,  and  still  not  neglect  the 


THE  ORIGINAL  FIXER  141 

Good-Looking  Member  and  the  Father-in-law 
in  her  campaign  against  duty. 

First  of  all,  she  invited  the  elder  Mr.  Severs 
to  dinner,  and  forestalled  his  refusal  by  say- 
ing: 'Tlease.  I  have  a  perfectly  wonderful 
calf's  liver,  and  I  want  you  to  cook  it  for 
me.  The  odor  that  comes  up  from  the 
kitchen  below  is  irresistible." 

No  father-in-law  who  loved  calf's  liver  and 
a  kitchen  could  v/ithstand  that  invitation  and 
he  found  he  had  accepted  before  he  knew  it. 
To  his  boundless  delight,  the  dinner  was  as 
though  designed  in  Heaven,  for  his  delecta- 
tion. Clam  chowder,  calves'  liver  and  sliced 
onions,  watermelon  preserves,  and  home 
made  apple  pie — made  by  Kitty,  who  had  re- 
ceived rigid  orders  to  provide  the  richest  and 
juiciest  confection  possible,  overflowing  with 
apples  and  spice. 

As  they  sat  chummily  together  over  a  red 
table-cloth,  which  Eveley  had  bought  espe- 
cially for  this  occasion,  she  said  thoughtfully : 

'T  believe  I  am  the  only  really  happy  per- 
son in  the  world.  Do  you  know  why?  It  is 
because  I  am  free,    I  am  not  dependent  on 


142  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

the  whims  or  fancies  of  any  one.  I  eat  what 
I  like,  go  where  I  like,  sleep  when  I  like.  It 
is  the  only  life.  I  often  think  how  remark- 
able it  is  that  you  can  be  so  happy  living 
down  there  with  those  honeymooners,  doing 
everything  to  please  them,  eating  what  they 
like,  going  to  bed  when  they  get  sleepy.  It 
is  wonderfully  unselfish  of  you — ^but  I 
couldn't.    I  have  to  be  free." 

"You  are  a  sensible  girl,"  he  said  thought- 
fully. "I  never  saw  any  one  more  sensible. 
Don't  you  ever  get  married.  You  stay  like 
you  are.  Holy  Mackinaw!  Don't  this  liver 
melt  in  your  mouth?" 

"I  do  not  really  care  for  an  apartment  like 
this,"  Eveley  went  on.  "I  prefer  a  cottage, 
off  by  itself,  with  a  little  garden,  and  a 
few  chickens  in  the  back  yard,  just  a  tiny 
shack  in  a  eucalyptus  grove,  a  couple  of 
rooms  where  I  can  eat  in  the  kitchen  and 
sleep  in  the  living-room." 

"Oh,  mama,  it  sounds  like  Heaven,"  and 
he  rolled  his  eyes  to  the  ceiling. 

"I  am  looking  for  a  cottage  now.  If  I  find 
exactly  what  I  want,  I  may  move.    I  should 


THE  ORIGINAL  FIXER  143 

think  you  would  prefer  something  like  that 
yourself — a  little  rusty  cot  and  a  garden  and 
a  dog,  where  you  could  smoke  all  over  the 
house,  and  have  your  friend  come  in  for 
pinochle  every  night.  I  do  not  see  how  you 
can  live  as  you  do  cooped  up  with  a  bride 
and  groom." 

He  sighed  dolorously. 

"But  I  suppose  some  people  like  it.  It 
wouldn't  do  for  me.  That  is  why  I  am  look- 
ing for  a  cottage.    Do  you  drive  a  car?" 

"A  Ford.  I  wanted  to  buy  a  Ford,  but 
daughter  said  no,  they  would  not  have  a 
Ford.  They  would  wait  till  they  could  afford 
an  electric.  She  wouldn't  let  me  buy  a  Ford 
for  myself  either.  Said  it  looked  too  poor." 

"Did  you  ever  have  one?" 

"Me?  Sure  I  did.  But  I  accidentally 
drove  off  the  road  into  the  sand  when  I  was 
fishing  once,  and  the  tide  was  coming  in  and 
it  washed  the  car  down.  And  when  I  got 
back  with  another  car  to  tow  mine  out,  it  was 
gone.  Some  said  the  tide  carried  it  out  to 
sea,  and  some  said  a  thief  stole  it,  but  it  was 
gone,  so  it  didn't  matter  how  it  went." 


144  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

Then  Eveley  was  content  to  talk  of  other 
things. 

The  next  day  she  called  up  from  the  office, 
and  asked  to  speak  to  Father-in-law. 

"I  am  going  up  to  see  a  little  cottage  to- 
night," she  said  excitedly.  "And  my  car  is 
in  the  garage  for  adjustment.  I  unfortu- 
nately hit  a  curb  and  banged  my  fender.  So  I 
have  rented  a  Ford  for  an  hour  or  so,  and 
want  you  to  come  along  and  drive  it  for  me. 
Will  you?  Good!  I  will  be  there  at  five 
o'clock." 

"She  is  a  sensible  girl,"  he  said  to  his  son's 
wife  as  he  hung  up  the  receiver.  "A  nice 
sensible  girl.  She  ought  to  help  you  a  good 
lot." 

Mrs.  Severs  only  sniffed.  She  knew  this 
was  the  working  out  of  Eveley's  plot,  though 
Eveley  had  not  confided  in  her,  knowing  in- 
stinctively that  the  bride  would  tell  the 
groom,  and  that  the  groom  would  be  sure  to 
stop  it.  So  Mrs.  Severs  saw  her  father-in- 
law  clamber  into  the  little  car  at  five 
o'clock,  with  something  like  hope  in  her 
breast. 


THE  OEIGINAL  FIXER  145 

For  a  time,  he  was  intensely  absorbed  in 
the  manipulation  of  the  gears,  and  the 
brakes,  his  lower  lip  clutched  tightly  between 
his  teeth,  breathing  in  full  short  gusts  hke 
a  war  horse  champing  for  battle.  But  when 
at  last  they  were  fully  started  and  running 
with  reasonable  smoothness,  he  said: 

*'Who  says  this  isn't  a  car?  You  talk  to 
daughter  about  it,  will  you?  You  explain  to 
her  that  this  is  a  regular  car  like  anything 
else." 

''Some  people  are  so  funny,  aren't  they? 
How  well  you  drive  it!  It  is  lots  of  sport, 
isn't  it?  I  should  think  it  would  be  fine  for 
you  to  have  a  car  to  run  around  in.  Then 
you  and  your  friend  could  go  to  Ocean  Beach 
and  fish,  and  up  to  the  mountains  and  shoot, 
and  have  a  wonderful  time." 

"I  hadn't  thought  of  that.  I — you  talk  to 
daughter,  will  you  ?  Tell  her  she  won't  have 
to  ride  in  it." 

"Turn  to  the  right  here,"  said  Eveley  sud- 
denly. **The  cottage  is  the  cunningest  thing 
you  ever  saw,  just  two  rooms,  high  on  the 
hill  overlooking  the  bay.    I  am  so  tired  of 


146  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

being  cooped  up  in  a  house  with  a  whole 
crowd.  I  want  to  be  absolutely  free  to  do  as 
I  please." 

He  sighed  heavily  again.  "It  is  the  only 
life.  The  only  way  to  live.  But  shucks, 
folks  can't  always  have  what  they  want." 

'There  it  is,  that  little  white  house,  third 
from  the  corner,"  she  said,  pointing  eagerly, 
as  he  drew  up  the  car  to  a  spasmodic  halt. 

He  looked  critically  at  the  small  lawn  and 
the  tiny  cottage.  'Those  rose-bushes  need 
trimming,"  he  said,  frowning.  'There's  a 
loose  corner  on  the  porch,  too.  Bet  that  grass 
hasn't  been  watered  for  three  weeks.  Why 
folks  don't  keep  up  their  property  is  more 
than  I  can  see." 

"Look  at  the  view,"  said  Eveley  suddenly. 
"See  the  ships  out  in  the  bay,  and  the  aero- 
planes over  North  Island.  Isn't  it  beautiful  ? 
If  we  had  field-glasses  we  could  see  the  people 
walking  around  in  Tent  City,  and  the  lemon 
in  the  tea  on  the  veranda  at  Coronado." 

"I've  got  field-glasses  at  home,"  he  said 
wistfully.  "In  my  suit-case.  But  I  didn't 
unpack.    Daughter  does  not  like  a  lot  of  trash 


THE  ORIGINAL  FIXER  147 

around  the  house.  I'll  bet  we  could  see  the 
gobs  on  that  battle-ship  if  we  had  the 
glasses."  He  turned  again  to  the  yard.  "It'll 
take  a  lot  of  work  keeping  up  this  place.  And 
you  busy  every  day  wouldn't  have  much  time 
for  it.  I  reckon  you'd  be  afraid  alone  nights, 
too.  An  apartment  is  better  for  a  woman  by 
herself." 

"But  the  freedom—" 

"Women  hadn't  ought  to  have  too  much 
freedom.  It  spoils  'em.  This  is  the  born 
place  for  a  man — and  a  dog — and  field- 
glasses — and  a  Ford." 

"Let's  go  inside  and  look  it  over,"  said 
Eveley.  "Did  you  ever  see  such  a  place  for 
chickens?  Nice  clean  little  coops  all  ready 
for  them.  Wouldn't  it  be  a  paradise  for  half 
a  dozen  hens  ?" 

"It's  a  lot  of  work  raising  chickens,"  said 
the  old  man.  "It's  a  job  for  a  man,  really. 
You  wouldn't  like  it."  Then,  thoughtfully: 
"Half  a  day's  work  would  make  that  place  fit 
for  the  king's  pullets." 

"And  look  at  the  cunning  little  garden," 
urged  Eveley. 


148  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

"Needs  hoeing.  All  run  over  with  weeds. 
Whole  place  going  to  rack  and  ruin.  Needs 
a  man  around  here,  anybody  can  see  that." 

"Come  in,  come  in,"  cried  Eveley,  unlock- 
ing the  kitchen  door.  "See  the  little  gas  stove, 
and  the  tiny  table — and  the  cooler.  Isn't  it 
fun?  Couldn't  you  have  the  time  of  your 
life  here,  reveling  in  liver  and  cabbage  and 
pinochle?  Wouldn't  your  friend  be  crazy 
about  it?" 

The  old  man  squirmed  restlessly,  and 
passed  into  the  next  room.  Eveley  dropped 
down  on  the  side  of  the  bed,  and  set  the 
springs  bounding. 

"It  is  a  good  bed.  That  table  seems  made 
for  pinochle,  doesn't  it?  I  can  just  see  this 
place,  with  you  and  your  friend,  the  room 
thick  with  smoke — and  no  one  to  say,  *0h, 
father,  it's  terribly  late.'  '*  Eveley  put  up  a 
very  fair  imitation  of  Mrs.  Severs'  ripply, 
bridal  voice. 

"A  phonograph — there  ought  to  be  a  phon- 
ograph, to  play  Bonnie  Sweet  Bessie,  and 
Nelly  Gray," 

"Just  the  thing.    A  phonograph.    That  i» 


THE  ORIGINAL  FIXER  149 

the  one  thing  lacking.  I  knew  there  was 
something  needed." 

Father-in-law  was  quiet  after  that.  He 
walked  about  slowly,  peering  into  every  nook 
and  corner.  But  finally  he  went  out  to  the 
car,  and  climbed  in.  Eveley  followed  silently. 
He  started  the  car  with  a  bang  and  a  tug, 
and  drove  home  swiftly,  speaking  not  one 
word  on  the  way.    But  Eveley  was  content. 

Quite  late  that  evening  he  came  up  the 
rustic  stairs  and  knocked  on  her  window. 

**Say,  Miss  Ainsworth,"  he  asked  anxious- 
ly, ''did  you  decide  to  take  that  cottage  and 
live  alone  ?  Pretty  risky  business,  I'm  afraid. 
And  it's  a  sight  of  work  keeping  up  a  garden 
like  that — and  chickens  are  a  dickens  of  a  lot 
of  trouble.'* 

"I  am  afraid  so,"  said  Eveley  wistfully. 
"I  believe  your  advice  is  good.  It  is  a  darling 
little  place,  but  I  suspect  I'd  better  give  up 
the  idea  entirely." 

'That's  right.  You're  a  sensible  girl.  Very 
sensible." 

And  he  turned  abruptly  and  went  creaking 
down  the  stairs  once  more. 


150  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

The  next  evening  as  she  swung  her  car  up 
to  the  curb,  Eveley  found  him  waiting. 

"I'm  afraid  I'll  have  to  give  it  up,"  he  said, 
and  added  apologetically.  "I  thought  since 
you  didn't  want  it,  I  might  take  it  myself. 
But  if  I  went  away  they'd  think  I  was  dis- 
satisfied, and  maybe  they  hadn't  been  good 
to  me  or  something.  I  wouldn't  like  to  hurt 
their  feelings." 

"Can't  you  pretend  you  hate  to  leave, 
but  you  feel  it  is  your  duty?"  Eveley 
almost  choked  on  the  word,  but  she  knew  it 
would  be  only  folly  to  explain  her  advanced 
ideas  to  this  kindly  conscientious  soul.  "You 
tell  them  that  you  think  it  is  your  solemn 
duty  to  go  and  leave  them  alone,  and  that 
you  can't  be  happy  unless  you  are  doing 
your  duty.  Tell  them  that  honeymooners 
need  to  be  alone." 

"That's  a  good  idea.  I'll  try  it  on  them 
right  away." 

When  he  timidly,  then  enthusiastically 
pressed  his  case,  Mrs.  Severs,  seeing  in  his 
sudden  determination  to  do  his  duty  the 
happy  fruition  of  Eveley's  plan,  voiced  only 


THE  ORIGINAL  FIXER  151 

a  few  polite  words  of  mild  protest,  but  her 
husband  was  flat-footed  and  vociferous  in  his 
objections. 

"Just  cut  out  the  nonsense,  dad,  and  be- 
have yourself.  It  is  your  duty  to  stay  here 
where  you  belong,  and  you  can  stick 
around  and  get  used  to  it.  You  can't  go  off 
by  yourself,  and  that  settles  it." 

'1  wouldn't  be  lonesome,"  said  his  father 
meekly.  "I  could  get  along.  And  I  could 
come  and  visit  you.  I  think — maybe — I'd 
like  it  pretty  good." 

"Oh,  I'm  on  to  you,  dad.  You  just  say 
that  because  you  think  it  would  be  better  for 
us.  Why,  you'd  be  lonely  as  the  deuce." 
And  he  went  off  into  the  other  room  and 
considered  the  subject  closed. 

Late  that  night,  Mrs.  Severs  ran  up  the 
stairs. 

"Eveley,  he  really  asked  to  go,  but  Dody 
wouldn't  hear  of  it.  And  I  do  feel  ashamed 
of  myself.  We  can't  turn  the  poor  old  fellow 
out.  It  would  not  be  right.  Just  let  it  go, 
and  I'll  try  to  get  used  to  it.  He  really  is  a 
dear  old  thing." 


152  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

* 'Listen  here,  Mrs.  Severs,  do  you  mean 
that  you  are  selfish  enough  to  keep  that  poor 
old  man  here  with  you  spooners  when  he 
really  wants  to  be  off  alone  where  he  can  fisK 
and  cook  and  roam  around  to  his  heart's  con- 
tent ?  Can't  you  see  it  is  your  plain  duty  to 
make  him  go  where  he  can  live  his  own  life  ? 
I — I  am  sui-prised  at  you." 

''Oh!  You  think — you  mean — maybe  he 
would  be  happier?" 

*'Why,  of  course  he  would.  And  it  is  your 
duty  to  deny  yourselves  in  order  to  make 
him  happy." 

''Oh,  I  see."  Mrs.  Severs  was  quite  radi- 
ant. "Talk  to  Dody  about  it,  will  you?  He 
wants  to  do  his  duty,  but  he  sees  it  the  other 
way  round." 

"Leave  him  to  me." 

Some  time  later.  Father-in-law  himself 
crept  softly  up  the  stairway  and  tapped  on 
the  window. 

"Hist,"  he  whispered.  "It's  no  good.  Andy 
won't  hear  of  it.  Can't  you  think  of  some- 
thing?" 

"Leave  him  to  me,"  she  said  again.     *T 


THE  ORIGINAL  FIXER  15S 

am  the  original  little  fixer,  and  I'U  attend  to 
Andrew  Dody." 

The  next  morning,  quite  willing  to  sacrifice 
her  last  nap  in  her  desire  to  crush  all  duty, 
she  started  for  work  half  an  hour  earlier  than 
usual,  and  invited  Mr.  Severs  to  ride  down- 
town with  her.  And  as  they  started  off. 
Father  and  Daughter-in-law  from  separate 
windows  of  the  house  watched  their  depar- 
ture, and  prayed  that  success  might  cro\\Ti 
her  efforts. 

"I  want  to  talk  to  you  confidentially,  Mr. 
Severs,"  she  said  softly.  *'I — I  think  you 
misunderstand  some  things.  I  have  been 
with  your  father  such  a  lot,  and  I  have  dis- 
covered that  he  really  wants  to  live  alone. 
He  likes  to  be  free  to  do  things  when  he 
likes,  and  how." 

"He  can  do  that  in  our  home,  Lliss  Ains- 
worth,"  Andy  said  stiffly. 

"Of  course  he  can,  but  he  thinks  he  can't. 
He  wants  to  do  as  Mrs.  Severs  likes.  He  is 
only  pretending  it  is  his  duty  to  go,  because 
he  thought  it  would  hurt  your  feelings  if  you 
knew  he  wanted  to  leave  you.     He  is  just 


154  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

crazy  about  both  of  you,  but  he  is  so  used  to 
doing  every  Httle  thing  in  his  own  sweet 
way.  It  almost  seems  your  duty  fairly  to 
make  him  go,  because  he  would  be  happier." 

"I  am  not  one  to  shirk  my  duty.  Miss  Ains- 
worth.  I  will  sacrifice  anything  for  my 
father." 

"Of  course  it  will  be  lonely  for  you  when 
he  goes,  but  think  how  happy  he  will  be 
following  his  every  desire.  I  should  think 
you  would  fairly  force  him  to  be  selfish 
enough  to  leave  you ." 

*Tou  may  be  right.  He  does  not  care  for 
our  way  of  living,  I  know,  and  he  does  like 
messing  around.  And  then,  too,  it  upsets 
our  plans  a  lot  having  him  there,  but  what- 
ever is  right  for  dad,  is  right  for  us." 

"Then  he  must  certainly  have  the  little 
shack  we  saw  the  other  day — he  adored  it. 
You  just  tell  him  how  lonely  you  will  be,  and 
how  you  will  miss  him,  Mr.  Severs,  and  then 
make  him  take  the  little  cottage." 

Talking  it  over  afterward  with  Nolan, 
Eveley  admitted  regretfully  that  she  could 
hardly  call  this  a  victory — ^because  Father-in- 


THE  ORIGINAL  FIXER  155 

law  only  moved  to  do  his  duty,  and  the  chil- 
dren only  allowed  him  to  go  for  the  sake  of 
doing  theirs — but  since  everything  worked 
out  right,  she  was  satisfied,  though  she  alone 
knew  that  happiness  came  to  the  three  be- 
cause each  one  followed  his  own  desire  to  the 
exclusion  of  other  considerations. 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  GEEM  OF  DUTY 

THE  case  of  the  Good-Looking  Member 
strained  Nolan's  patience  almost  to  the 
breaking  point,  but  after  many  days  of  fruit- 
less chafing,  his  forbearance  was  rewarded. 

Eveley  invited  him  to  dinner. 

"Have  you  rescued  the  good-looking  one 
from  the  loveless  sea?"  he  asked  sarcasti- 
cally. 

"I  have  sown  the  good  seed,"  she  said 
amiably. 

"I  never  heard  of  sowing  seeds  in  a  love- 
less sea,"  he  sneered. 

*'I  have  thought  up  a  wonderful  scheme. 
But  you  will  have  to  help  me  out.  I  always 
fall  back  on  you  in  an  emergency,  don't  I?" 
Eveley's  voice  was  sweetest  honey.  "So  you 
must  come  to  dinner." 

"Is  the  Handsome  Member  to  be  among 
those  present?" 

"Oh,  Nolan,  this  is  our  party — to  talk 
156 


THE  GERM  OF  DUTY  157 

things  over  all  by  ourselves.  It  seems  such 
ages  since  I  saw  you,  and  I've  been  so  lone- 
some." 

Nolan  was  fully  aware  that  this  was  fabri- 
cation, but  being  totally  male,  he  found  him- 
self unable  to  resist. 

**You  do  not  know  what  lonesomeness  is, 
Eveley.  I  nearly  died.  I  almost  wished 
I  would  die.  I  shall  come  early,  and  please 
wear  the  blue  dress,  and  be  good  to  me." 

That  evening,  after  a  long  and  satisfying 
preamble,  they  sat  before  her  tiny  grate  with 
their  coffee,  and  she  broached  the  wonderful 
plan. 

"He  is  the  m^ost  utterly  married-to-duty 
thing  you  ever  saw.  He  says  he  can  not  in 
common  decency  refuse  to  marry  a  girl  who 
has  been  engaged  to  him  for  five  years.  He 
hasn't  even  seen  her  for  three,  and  isn't  a  bit 
interested  in  her.  Why,  they  only  write 
once  a  month,  or  so.  That's  no  love-affair, 
anybody  can  see  that.  But  he  won't  ask  her 
to  let  him  off,  and  so  we  have  thought  up  the 
most  scientific  scheme  to  work  it.  He  is  in- 
viting her  to  come  here  for  a  visit,  and  she 


158  EVE    TO   THE   RESCUE 

is  to  stay  with  me.  She  hates  sensible  busi- 
nessKke  men,  and  she  adores  scatter-brain, 
fussy  ones.  So  when  she  comes,  he  is  going 
to  be  as  poky  as  duty  itself,  and  wear  old 
grimy  clothes,  and  work  day  and  night,  and 
you  are  going  to  don  your  sunshine  apparel 
and  blossom  out  like  a  rose,  and  beau  her 
around  in  great  style.  Result,  she  will  fire 
him,  hoping  to  ensnare  you — ^but  don't  you 
make  any  mistake  and  get  yourself  ensnared 
for  keeps,  will  you?" 

"He  is  going  to  work  evenings,  is  he?" 
"Yes,  day  times  and  night  thues  and  all 
times.*' 

"And  I  am  to  cavalier  the  lady?" 
"Not  the  lady,"  she  denied  indignantly. 
"Both  of  us.  You  shan't  go  out  with  her 
alone.  She  is  a  terrible  flirt,  and  very  pretty. 
Where  you  and  she  goeth,  I  shall  goeth  also." 
"Well,  I  can  stand  it.  But  what  is  to  be- 
come of  my  own  future?  Why  should  I 
neglect  my  legal  interests  to  beau  another 
fellow's  sweetheart  about  the  town?" 

"Because  you  always  help  me  out  of  a 
tight  place,"  she  said  wheedlingly.    "And  be- 


THE  GERM  OF  DUTY  159 

cause  you  do  not  approve  of  my  campaign. 
But  if  you  are  nice  and  help  me  this  time,  I 
think  I  can  everlastingly  prove  that  I  am 
right." 

"If  I  do  the  work,  seems  to  me  I  do  the 
proving." 

"Yes,  but  it  is  my  theory,  so  I  get  the 
credit.  Of  course  you  must  be  very  gay  and 
make  quite  a  fuss  over  Miss  Weldon,  but 
don't  you  carry  it  too  far,  or  you'll  be  in 
bad  with  me." 

Anything  that  meant  the  eclipse  of  the 
Handsome  Member  could  not  be  other  than 
satisfactory  to  Nolan.  He  agreed  with  a 
great  deal  of  enthusiasm,  only  stipulating 
that  all  evenings  previous  to  the  arrival  of 
the  pretty  fiancee  should  be  devoted  to  priv- 
ate rehearsal  of  his  part  under  the  personal 
direction  of  the  Dutiless  Theorist. 

So  it  was  Nolan  and  Eveley  who  met  Miss 
Weldon  at  the  station  upon  her  arrival.  They 
stood  together  beside  the  white  columns, 
searching  the  faces  of  the  passengers  as  they 
alighted.  When  a  slender,  fair-haired  girl 
swung  lightly  down,  they  hurried  to  greet  her. 


160  EVE  TO   THE   RESCUE 

"Miss  Weldon?"  asked  Eveley,  with  her 
friendly  smile.  "I  am  Eveley  Ainsworth,  and 
this  is  my  friend,  Mr.  Inglish.  Mr.  Baldwin 
could  not  get  away  to-night — 'way  up  to  his 
ears  in  work.  But  he  is  coming  up  to  see  you 
later  this  evening." 

If  Miss  Weldon  was  disappointed  she  gave 
no  sign.  Instead  she  turned  to  Nolan  with 
frankly  approving  eyes,  remarking  his  tall 
slim  build,  his  thin  clever  face,  his  bright 
keen  eyes. 

*'Are  you  so  devoted  to  business,  Mr. 
Inghsh  ?"  she  asked,  as  she  opened  her  small 
bag  and  took  out  a  solitaire,  which  she  placed 
on  the  third  finger  of  her  left  hand.  At  the 
smiles  in  the  eyes  of  Eveley  and  Nolan,  she 
only  laughed.  "Why  flaunt  your  badge  of 
servitude  ?    Burdon't  tell  Timmy,  will  you  ?" 

She  was  indeed  very  pretty,  with  warm 
shining  eyes,  and  a  quick  pleasant  voice.  She 
was  full  of  a  bright  wit,  too,  and  the  drive 
to  Eveley's  Cote  in  the  Clouds  was  only 
marred  for  Eveley  by  the  fact  that  she,  being 
driver,  had  to  sit  in  front  alone. 

"We  shall  not  do  much  cavaliering  in  the 


THE  GERM  OF  DUTY  161 

car,"  she  thought  grimly.  "Not  when  there 
are  only  three  of  us.  We'll  walk — three 
abreast." 

Miss  Weldon  was  enchanted  with  the  rustic 
steps,  but  a  little  fearful  of  them  as  well,  and 
appropriated  Nolan  as  her  personal  body- 
guard and  support.  She  squealed  prettily  at 
every  creak  and  rumble. 

"I  shall  never  try  these  steps  alone,  Mr. 
Inglish,"  she  said,  clinging  to  his  not-unwill- 
ing hand.  *'l  shall  always  wait  for  you." 

"ril  roll  her  down,  if  she  begins  that," 
thought  Eveley. 

But  in  spite  of  her  disapproval,  even  to  her 
there  was  something  very  attractive  in  the 
pretty  girlish  merriment  and  interest  of  her 
young  guest. 

*T  do  not  see  why  Nolan  had  to  squeeze  in 
on  this,"  she  said  to  herself  most  unfairly. 

Miss  Weldon  was  charmed  with  the  dainty 
apartment,  and  loved  the  cunning  electric  fix- 
tures in  the  tiny  dining-room.  She  tucked 
an  apron  under  her  belt,  and  appointed  Nolan 
her  assistant  in  making  toast,  while  Eveley 
finished  the  light  details  of  serving  dinner. 


162  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

"It  certainly  is  a  silly  business  all  the  way 
around/*  Eveley  decided. 

After  their  coffee,  and  after  Nolan  had 
finished  his  second  cigar,  Miss  Weldon  said, 
"Now  since  Miss  Ainswortn  got  dinner,  we 
must  do  the  dishes.  I  shall  wash,  and  you 
must  dry  them,  Mr.  Inglish,  and  be  sure  you 
make  them  shine,  for  I  am  very  fussy  about 
my  dishes." 

And  Eveley  had  to  sit  down  in  a  big  chair 
and  rest,  though  she  did  not  feel  like  sitting 
down  and  hated  resting — and  look  quietly  on 
while  Miss  Weldon  fished  each  separate  dish 
from  the  hot  suds  and  held  it  out  playfully 
for  Nolan  to  wipe.  It  made  a  long  and  la- 
borious task  of  the  dish  washing  for  Eveley, 
and  she  was  quite  worn  out  at  its  conclusion. 

"Funny  that  some  people  can't  do  their 
plain  duty  without  getting  the  whole  neigh- 
borhood mixed  up  in  it,"  she  thought  resent- 
fully. 

At  nine  o'clock,  came  Timothy  Baldwin. 
Miss  Weldon  met  him  at  the  window, 
looked  at  him,  half  curiously,  half  fearfully, 
and  after  lifting  her  lips  for  a  fleeting  kiss. 


THE  GERM  OF  DUTY  163 

backed  quickly  away  from  him  into  a  re- 
mote corner. 

Then  Nolan,  according  to  prearranged  plan, 
suggested  that  he  and  Eveley  run  down  and 
put  the  car  in  the  garage.  "And  if  there  is  a 
moon,  we  may  go  for  a  joy-ride,  so  don't 
expect  us  back  too  soon." 

And  as  they  rode  he  spoke  so  unconcern- 
edly of  Sally's  smiles  and  curls  and  pretty 
hands,  that  Eveley  was  restored  to  her  orig- 
inal enthusiasm  for  the  campaign. 

"Won't  she  be  wild?"  she  chuckled,  snug- 
gling close  against  Nolan's  side,  but  never 
forgetting  that  she  was  mistress  of  the 
wheel.  "Tim  is  going  to  talk  business  all  the 
time,  and  at  ten-thirty  he  is  going  to  say  he 
must  hurry  home  to  rest  up  for  a  hard  day's 
work  to-morrow.  We  are  not  to  get  in  until 
eleven,  so  she  will  be  utterly  bored  to  distrao- 
tion.    Isn't  it  fun?" 

They  drove  slowly,  happily  around  the 
park,  over  the  bridge  and  under  the  bridge, 
around  the  eucalyptus  knoll  above  the  lights 
on  the  bay,  and  then  went  down-town  for  ice- 
cream.   At  exactly  eleven  o'clock,  Nolan  took 


164  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

her  hands  as  she  stood  on  the  bottom  step  of 
the  rustic  stair. 

"I  can't  say  it  is  your  duty  to — ^be  good 
to  me — but  I  hope  it  will  make  you  happy. 
And  by  the  rules  of  your  own  game,  I  have 
a  right  selfishly  to  insist  on  your  being  al- 
ways sweet  and  wonderful  to  me,  and  to  me 
alone." 

"Just  what  do  you  mean  by  that,  Nolan  V 

"Nothing,  of  course,  but  can't  you  use  your 
imagination  ?" 

"No,  I  can't.  That  is  for  brides  and 
fiancees,  not  for  unattached  working  girls 
like  me." 

Then  she  ran  on  up  the  stairs,  and  Nolan 
went  home. 

True  to  arrangement,  Tim  had  gone  at 
ten-thirty,  and  Miss  Weldon  in  a  soft  negligee 
was  sitting  alone  pensively,  before  the  fire. 

"Tim  has  changed,"  she  said  briefly.  "I 
think  he  has  more  sense,  but  a  little  less — er 
' — warmth,  I  might  say." 

"Do  you  think  so?  He  works  very  hard. 
He  is  fearfully  ambitious  and  they  think 
everything  of  him  at  the  office." 


THE  GERM  OF  DUTY  165 

"Yes?  Then  he  must  certainly  have 
changed.  He  was  not  keen  on  business  at 
Salt  Lake.  He  lost  three  jobs  in  eight  weeks. 
That  is  why  he  came  w^est.  And  his  father 
has  financed  half  a  dozen  ventures  for  him. 
But  perhaps  he  has  settled  down,  and  will  da 
all  right.  I  love  your  little  apartment,  and  it 
is  dear  to  call  it  a  Cloud  Cote,  and  ]\Ir.  Nolan 
is  perfectly  charming.  Timmy  asked  us  to 
meet  him  at  Rudder's  for  luncheon,  you  and 
me  and  your  Mr.  Nolan,  also." 

''Oh,  that  is  nice,"  said  Eveley.  "I'll  come 
up  for  you  in  the  car  a  few  minutes  earlier. 
You  won't  mind  being  alone  most  of  the  day, 
will  you?    I  v/ork,  you  know." 

"No,  I  rather  like  being  alone.  I  sew  some, 
and  I  shall  read,  and  there  are  letters  to 
write.    I  do  not  mind  being  alone." 

Eveley  found  her  really  very  agreeable, 
quite  pleasant  to  entertain.  And  after  all 
Nolan  had  only  done  as  she  requested,  and 
there  was  nothing  personal  in  it.  It  was  lots 
of  fun,  but  it  must  stop  before  Miss  Weldon 
had  time  to  grow  really  fond  of  Nolan,  for  of 
course  she  could  not  have  him  under  any 


166  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

circumstances.  Eveley  absolutely  disbelieved 
in  any  form  of  duty,  still  she  would  not  feel 
justified  in  carrying  her  animosity  to  the 
point  of  wilfully  breaking  innocent  hearts. 

At  twelve-thirty  the  next  day,  Eveley  and 
Miss  Weldon  entered  the  small  waiting-room 
of  Eudder's  cafe.  Nolan  was  already  there. 
They  waited  fifteen  minutes  for  Timothy,  and 
then  a  messenger  came  down  to  them  with  a 
note.  Mr.  Baldwin  was  so  sorry,  but  business 
■was  urgent,  and  they  must  go  right  ahead 
and  have  luncheon  without  him.  He  would 
telephone  them  later  in  the  evening  if  he 
could  come  up. 

Sally  Weldon  pursed  "her  lips  a  little,  but 
she  smiled  at  Nolan.  "Can  you  beau  us  both, 
Mr.  Inglish  ?  We  think  we  are  mighty  lucky 
to  have  half  a  beau  a  piece  on  working  days. 
Are  you  the  only  man  in  this  whole  town 
who  does  not  work  like  a  slave?" 

So  they  found  a  pleasant  table  in  the  cafe, 
and  dawdled  long  over  their  luncheon,  laugh- 
ing and  chatting.  Then  they  took  Nolan  back 
to  his  office,  and  Eveley  and  Sally  went  for  a 
drive  on  the  beach  to  La  JoUa. 


THE  GERM  OF  DUTY  167 

"But  don't  you  have  to  work?"  asked  Sally, 
observing  that  it  was  long  after  two  when 
they  finally  turned  back  toward  the  office. 

Eveley  shrugged  her  shoulders  prettily. 

*'0h,  nobody  works  much  but  Mr.  Bald- 
win," she  said.  "He  does  the  grinding  for 
the  whole  force." 

Miss  Weldon  frowned  a  little,  but  said 
nothing. 

That  evening  she  had  the  dinner  nicely 
started  when  Eveley  reached  home,  and 
Eveley  was  loud  in  praise  of  her  guest's  skill 
and  cleverness. 

"It  is  just  lovely,  but  you  must  not  work. 
You  are  company." 

"I  rather  like  to  cook.  I  took  a  long  course 
in  it  four  years  ago  when  Timmy  and  I  were 
first  engaged,  and  I  have  done  all  the  house- 
keeping at  home  since  then.  Daddy  pays  me 
double  the  salary  we  used  to  pay  the  cook, 
and  I  provide  better  meals  and  more  cheaply 
than  she  did.    Daddy  says  so  himself." 

"Why,  Sally,"  cried  Eveley  warmly,  "I 
think  that  is  wonderful.  I  am  surprised.  I 
thought — I  supposed — " 


168  EVE  TO   THE   RESCUE 

"Oh,  I  know  what  you  thought/'  laughed 
Sally  brightly.  "Everybody  thinks  so,  and 
it  is  true.  I  am  very  gay  and  frivolous.  I 
love  to  dance  and  sing  and  play.  And  I  abhor 
solemn  ugly  grimy  things,  and  I  think  the 
only  Christian  duty  in  the  world  is  being 
happy." 

Eveley  flushed  at  that,  and  turned  quickly 
away. 

Later  Nolan  joined  them  for  dinner,  and 
the  little  party  was  waxing  very  gay  long 
before  Tim  called.  Then  it  was  only  to  say 
that  he  would  be  working  late,  but  was  send- 
ing them  tickets  for  the  theater  and  would 
join  them  afterward  for  supper  at  the  Grant. 

"Does  he  always  work  as  hard  as  this?" 
asked  Sally,  looking  steadily  into  Eveley's 
face. 

"He  always  works  pretty  hard,"  said 
Eveley  truthfully,  "but  he  does  seem  busier 
than  usual  right  now." 

Miss  Weldon  only  laughed,  and  they  talked 
of  other  things.  Nolan  went  down  with  them 
in  the  car,  Eveley  driving  alone  in  front,  but 
somehow  she  felt  her  pretty  guest  to  be  less 


'Just  what  do  you  mean  by  that 


THE  GERM  OF  DUTY  169 

of  a  menace  since  she  was  guilty  of  sensible 
things  like  cooking  and  sewing. 

Eveley  did  not  explain  that  Timothy  had 
felt  inclined  to  join  them  for  dinner  and  the 
show  that  night  after  disappointing  them  at 
luncheon,  but  she  had  been  firm  with  him. 

"Not  to-day,"  she  insisted.  "You  can  only 
have  one  hour  with  us  to-night.  To-morrow 
you  can  join  us  for  luncheon  and  a  short 
drive  afterward,  if  you  will  fix  it  so  I  can  get 
off." 

He  was  at  the  Grant  waiting  when  they 
arrived,  and  rather  impatient. 

"Did  you  have  a  pleasant  time  ?"  he  asked, 
looking  into  Sally's  bright  face. 

"Lovely.  And  did  you  hurry  terribly  to 
meet  us?  We  don't  want  to  interfere  with 
your  work,  or  bother  you." 

He  searched  her  face  for  signs  of  guile,  but 
her  eyes  were  unclouded,  and  her  manner  in- 
dicated only  a  friendly  concern  for  his  inter- 
ests. 

It  was  a  very  happy  party  that  night. 
Both  girls  were  merry,  and  Nolan  was  really 
more  solicitously  attentive  to  Sally  than  was 


170  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

quite  necessary  even  in  the  interests  of  a 
campaign  directed  against  her.  When  at  a 
late  hour,  they  trooped  out  to  the  car,  it 
was  he  who  helped  her  carefully  into  the 
machine,  though,  with  seeming  reluctance,  he 
permitted  Timothy  to  sit  with  her  while  he 
joined  Eveley  in  the  front  seat. 

"Timmy  is  good-looking,  don't  you  think?" 
Sally  asked  that  night,  as  they  were  prepar- 
ing for  bed. 

"Yes,  if  he  did  not  work  so  hard.  Young 
men  should  not  kill  themselves  with  labor." 

"Your  Nolan  is  handsomer,  perhaps,"  said 
Sally  pleasantly. 

The  next  day  Timothy  did  meet  them  for 
luncheon,  after  keeping  them  waiting  for 
twenty  minutes,  and  later  they  went  for  a 
fast  ride  out  Point  Loma.  But  that  night  he 
did  not  see  them  at  all,  though  he  told  Eveley 
he  thought  she  was  rather  rubbing  it  in, 
cheating  him  out  of  so  many  pleasant  parties 
and  good  times. 

"I  may  not  want  to  marry  her,  but  it  is 
good  sport  chasing  around,"  he  protested. 

But  Eveley  was  very  stem.    He  had  put 


THE  GERM  OF  DUTY  171 

himself  in  her  hands,  and  he  must  obey  with- 
out argument,  and  that  settled  it.  And  when 
he  suggested  that  it  would  look  better  if 
he  and  Sally  had  one  party  by  themselves 
without  Nolan  tagging  at  their  heels,  she 
frowned  it  down. 

"One  private  party  can  spoil  a  Vv'hole  week 
of  hard  work,"  she  decreed. 

So  the  week  passed.  Once  even  Eveley  pre- 
tended business,  and  Sally  and  Nolan  had 
luncheon  together,  and  a  drive  later  in  Eve- 
ley's  car.  But  Timothy  put  a  stop  to  that. 

"She  is  my  fiancee.  And  I  may  have  to 
marry  her  after  all.  And  if  I  do,  hanged  if 
I  want  everybody  in  town  thinking  she  was 
Nolan's  sweetheart  to  begin  with." 

So  Eveley  waived  that  part  of  her  plan,  and 
the  parties  were  always  of  three,  and  some- 
times, but  infrequently,  of  four.  That  Sally 
accepted  their  arrangements  so  easily,  and 
took  so  much  pleasure  in  their  entertainment, 
argued  well.    One  night  she  said : 

"Of  course,  men  have  to  work,  but  I 
shouldn't  like  my  husband  to  dig  away  like 
a  servant,  should  you,  Eveley?" 


172  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

And  Eveley  felt  the  time  was  ripe.  The 
next  day  she  told  Timothy  he  might  take 
Sally  out  alone  in  the  car  for  a  drive,  and  ask 
her  if  they  should  not  be  married  right  away. 
Eveley  was  willing  to  wager  that  she  would 
reject  him.  Timothy  consented  with  alacrity, 
seeming  to  feel  the  burden  of  his  semi-at- 
tached state. 

That  evening  at  six-thirty,  when  Nolan 
came  up  for  dinner,  Eveley  met  him  on  the 
roof  garden  over  the  sun  parlor. 

"Nolan,  something  has  happened.  They 
went  at  two  o'clock,  and  they  aren't  home  yet. 
What  do  you  suppose  is  the  matter?  Maybe 
they  had  an  accident.  Maybe  she  got  mad 
and  wouldn't  ride  home  with  him.  He 
wouldn't  put  her  out,  would  he?  Shall  we 
notify  the  police  ?" 

"I  should  say  not.  Don't  worry.  Let's 
have  our  dinner.  They  can  eat  the  leavings 
when  they  come.  He  has  probably  learned, 
as  other  and  wiser  men  have  learned,  that  a 
pretty  and  pleasant  girl  is  not  half  bad  com- 
pany. I'll  bet  he  is  having  the  time  of  his 
life.    My,  it  is  nice  to  have  you  alone  again. 


THE  GERM  OF  DUTY  173 

She  is  very  sweet,  and  it's  been  lots  of  fun, 
but  after  all  I  am  used  to  you,  and  this  is 
nicer." 

Nolan's  prediction  proved  far  from  wrong. 
At  ten-thirty,  a  messenger  boy  shouted  up 
from  below,  and  Nolan  ran  down.  When  he 
came  back  he  carried  a  small  yellow  slip  ad- 
dressed to  Eveley,  which  he  promptly  opened. 
And  as  she  peered  over  his  shoulder,  they 
read  it  aloud,  together,  in  solemn  chorus. 

'Three  cheers  and  a  tiger.  She  has  ac- 
cepted me,  and  we  were  married  at  Ocean- 
side  this  afternoon.  On  our  way  to  Yosemite 
for  honeymoon.  I  am  the  happiest  man  on 
earth.  Tell  Nolan  to  go  to  the  dickens.  Love 
from  Sally  and  Timothy  Baldwin." 

Nolan  lit  a  cigar  and  blew  reflective  rings 
into  the  air.  ''When  a  man  is  bitten  with  the 
germ  of  duty,"  he  began  somberly. 

For  a  moment  Eveley  was  crushed.  Then 
she  rallied.  "Just  as  I  told  you,  Nolan.  As 
long  as  it  was  a  painful  duty,  marriage  be- 
tween them  was  impossible,  and  would  have 
wrecked  both  their  lives.  But  our  campaign 
brought  about  the  proper  adjustment  and 
tuned  them  to  love  again.    So  it  was  not  duty. 


174  EVE    TO    THE  RESCUE 

but  love,  and  marriage  is  a  joy.  Now  I  hope 
you  are  convinced  that  I  am  right,  and  won't 
argue  with  me  any  more.  And  if  I  ever  had 
any  doubts  about  that  one  exception  I  make 
in  regard  to  duty,  they  are  all  gone  now.  I 
am  dead  sure  of  my  one  exception." 

But  when  Nolan  pressed  her  for  an  explan- 
ation, she  begged  him  to  smoke  again,  and 
let  her  think. 


CHAPTER  Xn 

THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  SEVENTH  STEP 

THE  sharp  tap  on  Eveley's  window  was 
followed  by  an  impatient  brushing  aside 
of  the  curtains,  and  Miriarm  Landis  swung 
gracefully  over  the  sill  in  a  cloud  of  chiffon 
and  silk. 

'*Lem  is  waiting  in  the  car,"  she  began 
quickly,  "but  I  came  up  to  show  you  my  new 
gown.  Are  you  nearly  ready?  Lem  is  so 
impatient,  you  know."  Fumbling  with  the 
fasteners  of  her  wide  cape  she  drew  it  back 
and  revealed  a  bewilderingly  beautiful  cre- 
ation beneath. 

Eveley  went  into  instant  and  honest  rap- 
tures. 

"Do  you  like  it,  Eveley  ?  Am  I  beautiful  in 
it?"  There  was  a  curious  wistfulness  in  her 
voice,  and  Eveley  studied  her  closely. 

"Of  course  you  are  beautiful  in  it.  You  are 
a  dream.    You  are  irresistibly  heavenly." 

175 


176  EVE  TO   THE   RESCUE 

"I  wonder  if  Lem  thinks  so,"  said  Miriam, 
half  breathlessly. 

"Why,  you  little  goose,"  cried  Eveley,  forc- 
ing the  laughter.  "How  could  he  think  any- 
thing else?  There,  he  is  honking  for  us  al- 
ready. We  must  hurry —  Why,  Miriam,  you 
silly,  how  could  any  one  think  you  anything 
in  the  world  but  matchlessly  wonderful  in 
anything — especially  in  a  dream  like  that?" 

Miriam  fastened  her  wrap  again  silently, 
and  got  carefully  out  through  the  window. 

"Twelve  steps,"  cautioned  Eveley.  '*You'd 
better  count  them,  it  is  so  dark,  or  you  may 
stumble  at  the  bottom." 

Miriam,  clinging  to  the  railing  on  one  side, 
passed  slowly  down.  "One,  two,  three,  four, 
five,  six."     Then  she  stopped  and  turned. 

"Seven."  Looking  somberly'  up  to  Eveley, 
standing  above  her,  her  face  showing  pale 
and  sorry  in  the  dim  Hght,  she  said,  "I  have 
been  married  five  years,  Eve.  You  do  not 
know  what  it  is  to  spend  five  years  strug^ 
gling  to  maintain  your  charm  for  your  hus- 
band. And  never  knowing  whether  you  have 
failed  or  won.    Always  wondering  why  he 


THE  SEVENTH  STEP  177 

finds  more  attraction  in  other  women  less 
beautiful  and  less  clever.  Always  wondering, 
always  afraid,  trying  to  cling  to  what  ought 
to  be  yours  without  effort.  It  isn't  funny, 
Eveley."  She  turned  slowly,  to  go  on  down, 
but  Eveley  laid  a  restraining  hand  on  her 
arm. 

*Tive  years?  That  is  a  long  time,"  she 
said  in  a  tender  voice.  *'It  must  almost  be 
his  turn  now.  Five  years  seems  very  long 
to  me." 

Miriam  passed  on  down  the  stairs,  counting 
aloud,  eight,  nine,  ten,  and  on  to  the  last. 
At  the  last  step  she  turned  again. 

'*He  is  my  husband,  Eveley.  One  must  do 
what  is  right." 

*'Yes?  Yet  five  years  of  duty  does  not 
seem  to  have  brought  you  much  happiness. 
At  least  you  should  not  be  selfish.  You  ought 
not  to  deny  him  the  pleasure  of  doing  his  by 
you  for  the  next  five."  Then  she  added  apolo- 
getically: ^'Forgive  me,  Miriam.  You  know 
I  should  never  have  mentioned  this  if  you 
hadn't  spoken." 

Miriam  clung  to  her  hand  as  they  felt  their 


178  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

way  carefully  around  the  house,  Lem  in  the 
machine  still  honking  for  them  to  hurry. 

At  the  comer  she  paused  again.  "You  are 
very  clever,  aren't  you,  Eveley  ?" 

"Well,  yes,  I  rather  think  I  am,"  admitted 
Eveley. 

"How  would  you  go  about  it  T* 

"The  way  Lem  does,"  came  the  quick  re- 
tort, and  Miriam  laughed,  suddenly  and 
lightly. 

She  was  very  quiet  as  they  drove  down 
Fifth  Street.  Only  once  she  spoke. 

"It  was  the  seventh  step,  wasn't  it, 
Eveley?" 

"Yes,  the  seventh." 

"The  Revolution  of  the  Seventh  Step,"  she 
said,  laughing  again. 

This  was  nonsense  to  Lem  Landis,  but  he 
did  not  ask  questions.  Women  always  talked 
such  rot  to  each  other.  And  he  was  wonder- 
ing if  Mrs.  Cartle  would  surely  be  at  the  ball  ? 

"The  way  Lem  does." 

The  words  were  startlingly  sufficient. 
From  five  years  of  painful  experience,  Mrs. 
Landis  knew  how  Lem  did  it.    And  so  on  this 


THE  SEVENTH  STEP  179 

evening,  as  she  stood  beside  him  in  a  comer 
of  the  ballroom  after  their  first  greetings, 
and  looked  as  he  did  with  eager  speculative 
eyes  about  the  wide  room,  seeking,  seeking, 
she  felt  a  curious  sympathy  and  harmony  be- 
tween herself  and  her  husband.  She  knew 
without  turning  her  head  when  the  sudden 
brightening  in  his  eyes  came;  and  then  he 
slowly  made  his  way  to  the  dim  comer  where 
Mrs.  Cartle  sat  waiting. 

But  Miriam  was  not  so  quickly  satisfied. 
There  was  Dan  OTalley,  but  his  was  such 
fulsome  effrontery.  There  was  Clifford  Eg- 
gleton,  but  he  had  been  a  sweetheart  of 
Miriam's  in  the  old  days  before  Lem  came, 
and  that  seemed  hardly  fair.  There  was  Hal 
Jervis,  but  he  was  too  utterly  wax  in  woman's 
hands  to  give  her  any  semblance  of  thrill. 
Then  her  eyes  rested  on  a  profile  in  another 
comer  of  the  room — a  dark  sleek  head,  a 
dark  thin  face,  and  the  clear  outline  of  one 
merry  eye.  Miriam  appraised  the  head  spec- 
ulatively. Who  in  the  world  could  it  be? 
That  merry  eye  looked  very  enticing.  Ah, 
now  she  could  see  better — ^he  was  talking  to 


18a  EVE  TO  THE  RESCUE 

the  Merediths.  Then  the  merry-eyed  one 
was  a  stranger — so  much  the  better,  the  un- 
certainty of  him  pleased  her.  She  was  very 
v/eary  of  those  she  knew  so  well.  She  moved 
happily  that  way,  suddenly  surprised  to  know 
that  she  was  not  at  all  concerned  because 
her  husband  sat  in  the  distant  corner  with 
Mrs.  Cartle.  She  felt  for  him  to-night  only 
a  whimsical  comradeship.  Stopping  many 
times  on  her  way  to  exchange  a  word  and  a 
smile,  she  finally  drew  near  the  corner  where 
the  sleek  dark  head  and  the  merry  eye  had 
drawn  her.  Mrs.  Meredith,  seeing  her,  came 
to  meet  her,  and  drew  her  forward  impul- 
sively. 

**0h,  Miriam,  you  must  meet  our  friend, 
Mr.  Cameron.  He  has  only  just  come  here 
to  be  with  my  husband  in  business,  and  we 
are  going  to  love  him,  I  know."  And  so  im- 
mediately Miriam  found  herself  looking  di- 
rectly, and  with  great  pleasure,  full  into  the 
merry  eyes.  The  gown  v^as  beautiful  upon 
her,  she  knew  it  positively,  whether  Lem  had 
been  stirred  by  the  vision  or  not. 

''Oh,    she   is   lovely   enough,"    said   Billy 


THE  SEVENTH  STEP  181 

Meredith  plaintively.  "But  don't  be  lured  by 
her,  Cameron.  She  is  still  in  love  with  her 
husband." 

Miriam  smiled  at  her  victim  v^th  disarm- 
ing friendliness.  "But  I  like  to  be  amused," 
she  said.  "And  I  have  been  married  long 
enough  now  to  feel  like  playing  again." 

Cameron  laughed  at  that,  and  the  laughter 
fulfilled  the  promise  of  the  merry  eye. 
Miriam  was  quite  intoxicated  with  the  game 
her  husband  had  taught  her.  That  Eveley 
was  a  clever  little  thing,  wasn't  she  ? 

"Supi)ose  we  dance  then,"  Cameron  sug- 
gested eagerly.  "It  is  the  approved  method 
of  beginning  to  play." 

"We  resign  you  to  your  fate,"  sighed  Billy 
Meredith  once  more.  "I  warned  you,  you 
laughed  me  to  scorn.    Now  plunge  and  die." 

"He  seems  to  think  I  am  dangerous,"  said 
Miriam,  as  they  stepped  lightly  away  to  the 
call  of  the  music. 

"Well,  far  be  it  from  me  to  say  he  is 
wrong.  But  I  am  sure  you  will  prove  a 
charming  playfellow.  You  seem  fairly  to 
match  my  own  mood.    I  suppose  we  can  not 


182  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

climb  trees  and  go  nutting  and  fishing  and 
wade  in  the  creek  as  we  might  have  done 
together  years  ago,  but  if  you  will  be  patient 
and  teach  me  your  way  of  playing  in  your 
ladyhood,  I  think  you  will  find  me  an  apt, 
and  certainly  a  willing  playmate." 

''Then  let's  begin  to-morrow  night.  Come 
to  my  house,  and  let's  play  pool.  It  is  the 
most  reckless  thing  we  can  do.  I  have  a 
sweet  little  friend  and  she  has  a  deadly  ad- 
mirer, and  they  will  come  with  us.  She  is 
very  clever,  too,  and  full  of  fun.  See,  that  is 
she  there,  dancing — the  one  with  the  golden 
frock.  Her  name  is  Eveley  Ainsworth  and 
the  solemn  young  man  is  Nolan  Inglish,  and 
they  are  unannounced  but  accepted  sweet- 
hearts. You  are  not  afraid  of  Friend  Hus- 
band, then?" 

"Not  until  Friend  Husband  gets  afraid  of 
me,"  he  said. 

Later  in  the  evening,  as  they  were  having 
ices  in  a  wonderful  nook  in  the  ballroom,  he 
said  seriously,  and  with  no  laughter  in  the 
merry  eyes: 

"Are  you  trying  to  make  a  truant  husband 


THE  SEVENTH  STEP  183 

jealous?  Just  be  frank  with  me,  and  I  will 
do  my  best.  I  know  you  wanted  a  pal  to- 
night.   Do  you  mind  telling  me  why  ?" 

For  a  moment  she  hesitated.  Then  she 
smiled.  *'If  my  frankness  loses  me  a  pleasant 
comrade  I  shall  regret  my  candor.  But  I  do 
want  to  play  fairly  with  you.  So  hear  then 
the  bitter  truth.  I  have  been  married  five 
years,  and  I  have  worked  like  a  common  slave 
to  make  myself  beautiful  and  winsome  and 
irresistible  to  my  husband.  And  you  know 
that  a  wife  can't  do  it,  if  the  husband  isn't  in 
the  mind  for  it.  And  so  to-night  I  am  start- 
ing a  revolution.  I  do  not  want  to  struggle 
forever.  I  want  to  play  and  be  happy.  I 
have  no  notion  of  making  my  husband  jeal- 
ous. That  has  not  even  occurred  to  me.  I 
just  want  to  be  joyful — to  learn  to  be  joyful 
— regardless  of  him." 

*Then  may  I  be  a  disagreeable  old  preach- 
er, and  say  one  thing?  You  know  this  may 
be  fun,  but  sometimes  it  is  dangerous.  Hu- 
man beings  are  not  machines,  and  often  they 
make  mistakes  and  fall  in  love,  when  they 
had  only  meant  to  play.    You  would  not  find 


184  EVE   TO   THE   KESCUE 

it  at  all  pleasant  to  be  married  to  one  man, 
and  in  love  with  another.  And  maybe  you 
would  not  enjoy  having  a  husband  and  a 
lover  in  two  persons.  I  am  not  trying  to 
foretell  the  future,  or  make  unpleasant  pre- 
dictions— I  am  only  sounding  the  warning 
note." 

Miriam  considered  this  very  solemnly. 
Then  she  said:  'Well,  I  think  I  should  not 
mind.  It  does  not  seem  to  bother  Lem  to  be 
married  to  me,  and  at  the  same  time  be  in- 
volved in  stirring  friendships  with  other 
people." 

"Just  one  more  sermon  then,  and  I  am 
through,"  he  said,  laughing.  "It  is  this. 
Men  and  women  are  very  different.  A  man 
can  play  his  head  off  with  a  dozen  women, 
and  still  stay  in  love  with  his  wife,  and  want 
no  one  but  her.  But  a  really  nice  woman,  and 
you  are  awfully  nice,  can  not  have  love-af- 
fairs without  love.  When  she  loves  a  man, 
she  wants  him,  and  will  not  have  any  one 
else.  Your  husband  can  have  a  dozen  affairs, 
and  still  want  you.  But  if  you  have  a  pleas- 
ant affair — you  may  not  want  your  husband." 


THE  SEVENTH  STEP  185 

**Well,  of  course,  Mr.  Preacher,  one  must 
take  a  chance.  And  it  is  to  be  only  play,  you 
know.  That  must  be  understood  right  in  the 
start.  I  am  really  not  a  bit  advanced  nor 
modem,  nor  anything.  I  have  no  forward 
ideas  in  my  head.  I  am  just  tired  of  trying 
to  please  my  husband;  I  want  some  one  to 
please  me.  It  does  not  seem  to  offer  you 
much  for  your  pains,  does  it  ?  But  you  may 
find  me  fairly  amusing." 

*T  am  sure  of  it,"  he  agreed  warmly.  "And 
it  is  all  settled,  and  we  are  going  to  play  to- 
gether. And  if  sometimes  you  get  tired  of 
me,  and  fire  me  off,  I  shall  bob  up  serenely 
the  next  day  and  start  over,  just  as  we  might 
have  done  when  we  were  little  children." 

When  Miriam  reported  her  progress  in  rev- 
olution to  Eveley  the  next  day,  Eveley  was 
greatly  perturbed. 

**You  went  too  fast,"  she  said  with  a  frown. 
"And  besides — it  is  not  fair.  He  isn't  mar- 
ried.   He  will  fall  in  love  with  you." 

"Oh,  no,  we  have  a  regular  understanding," 
said  Miriam  confidently.  "It  is  all  settled  ac- 
cording to  rules,  and  we  are  only  going  to 


186  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

play.  Lem  goes  to  his  club  to-night,  and 
you  and  Nolan  are  to  come  and  play  pool 
with  us.  Doesn't  it  sound  emancipated  and 
free?" 

"Almost  bolshevistic,"  said  Eveley  grimly. 
"1  do  not  approve  of  it — ^not  exactly — though 
I  do  think  you  are  justified.  But  it  is  so 
risky — and  people  talk — " 

"Well,  Eveley,  I  think  it  is  better  to  have 
people  say,  'What  do  you  think  of  the  way 
Miriam  Landis  is  carrying  on?'  than  Isn't 
Miriam  Landis  a  little  fool  not  to  get  next  to 
her  husband  in  all  these  years?'  Shouldn't 
you?" 

"Well,  we'll  be  there,"  said  Eveley  evasive- 
ly. "We'll  be  right  there.  If  he  just  wasn't 
so  good-looking,  and  sort  of — decent?  Why 
didn't  you  pick  out  a  roue?  They  are  lots 
safer  than  these  decent  young  chaps." 

Nolan,  always  a  willing  sacrifice  when 
Eveley  bade,  joined  them  without  demur,  and 
a  more  rollickingly  gay  time  they  had  never 
had.  Even  Eveley  admitted  that  things 
seemed  innocent  and  harmless  enough,  but 
she  shook  her  head. 


THE  SEVENTH  STEP  187 

"He  is  too  good,"  she  whispered  to  Miriam. 
*'When  he  falls,  he  will  fall  hard.  And  if  he 
is  once  in  love,  I  have  a  feeling  he  will  work 
like — like  the  dickens — and  you  haven't  much 
spinal  column  yourself,  you  know.  And  I  do 
not  believe  in  home  wreckers,  and  things." 

Nolan,  also,  frankly  disapproved. 

''It  doesn't  make  any  difference  what  kind 
of  husband  she's  got,"  he  said  decidedly.  "As 
long  as  he  is  her  husband,  it  is  her  duty  to 
stick  to  him  and  leave  other  men  alone." 

"Don't  say  duty  to  me,"  said  Eveley  cross- 
ly. "Five  years  is  long  enough  for  any  wo- 
man to  do  her  duty.  I  think  she  is  quite 
justified  in  giving  Lem  a  good  scare.  Maybe 
he  will  wake  up,  and  behave  himself.  But 
this  Gordon  is  too  good-looking,  and  too  des- 
perately nice.  How  can  they  play  together 
like  two  children  ?  You  know  what  will  hap- 
pen." 

"I  think  it  has  already  happened.  He  is 
head  over  heels  right  now,  and  she  is  not 
breaking  her  heart  over  Lem,  either.  I  give 
them  two  weeks  to  develop  a  first-rate  rash." 

"But  Miriam  believes  in  duty,"  said  Eveley 


188  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

hopefully.  'TMaybe  that  will  save  them.  She 
would  never  elope  with  him,  and  I  do  not 
think  he  would  even  ask  her,  he  is  so  sort  of 
respectable  and  set." 

But  Nolan  was  pessimistic.  "Folks  talk 
about  duty  until  they  fall  in  love,  and  then 
they  forget  it  and  everything  else.  And  Lem 
has  acted  abominably.  I  thought  she  did  not 
know  it." 

"So  did  I.    But—" 

"Well,  no  use  to  worry.  We'll  stick  around 
with  them  and  sort  of  boss  the  job.  I  am 
glad  you  invited  them  to  the  Cote  to-morrow 
night." 

"And  for  supper,  too.  When  Lem  finds 
she  is  coming  here  for  a  supper  party  and  he 
is  left  out,  he  may  begin  to  think." 

"The  trouble  with  Lem  is,  he  can't  help 
himself.  He  loves  Miriam  all  right,  but  wo- 
men go  to  his  head.  He  may  get  jealous  and 
promise  everything  on  heaven  and  earth,  but 
he  can't  keep  his  word." 

"Then  he  shouldn't  have  married." 

"She  sliould  never  have  married  him. 
When  women  understand  that  a  man  who  can 


THE  SEVENTH  STEP  189 

not  look  at  a  woman  before  marriage  without 
making  love  to  her — can't  do  it  afterward — 
they  will  save  themselves  a  lot  of  trouble." 

'Well/'  said  Eveley  hopefully.  "No  one 
can  say  you  hurt  yourself  making  love." 

So  the  playing  went  on,  Nolan  and  Eveley 
acting  as  constant  and  merry  chaperons,  and 
the  little  grouping  grew  more  and  more  con- 
genial. Lem  realized  that  a  convulsion  was 
going  on  in  his  home,  and  reformed  desper- 
ately for  days  at  a  time,  but  a  secluded  cor- 
ner and  a  lovely  woman  invariably  set  him 
pleading  for  forgiveness.  Miriam  always  for- 
gave him  promptly  and  said  it  did  not  bother 
her ;  and  was  at  first  frightened,  and  then  de- 
lighted, to  know  that  it  truly  did  not  bother 
her  any  more. 

Then  one  evening,  Eveley  had  a  mad  tele- 
phone call  from  Lem,  quickly  followed  by  a 
flying  rush  to  her  little  Cote. 

"See  what  youVe  done,"  he  shouted,  half- 
way through  the  window.  'That  is  what 
comes  of  your  interference.  Miriam  was  the 
most  contented  woman  on  earth  till  you  be- 
gan feeding  her  up  on  this  notion  of  revenge." 


190  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"You  sit  down  and  talk  sense,  Lem  Landis, 
or  get  out,"  said  Eveley.  ^'Contented!  She 
hasn't  known  a  contented  day  since  she  mar- 
ried you.  You  have  had  five  years  of  jollying 
with  other  women.  Now  because  another 
man  smiles  on  her,  you  go  into  a  rage  and 
tear  your  hair.    You  make  me  sick." 

"Look  here,  Eveley,  you  got  me  into  this, 
and  you've  got  to  get  me  out.  I  didn't  care 
hov/  much  they  smiled.  I  thought  at  first  it 
was  a  put-up  job  to  make  me  jealous,  and  I 
laughed  at  it.    But  it  has  gone  too  far." 

^'Everything  is  all  right,"  said  Eveley 
soothingly.  *'They  are  just  playing.  Nolan 
and  I  are  with  them  all  the  time.  There  is 
nothing  serious  between  them." 

''Don't  be  a  fool,"  he  said  rudely.  "You 
know  that  men  and  women  can't  play  like 
kids.    Miriam  wants  a  divorce." 

Eveley  sat  down  and  swallowed  hard. 

"A  divorce,"  he  raged,  champing  wildly  up 
and  down  the  small  room.  "She  says  there 
is  nothing  between  them,  and  she  does  not 
love  him,  but  she  can't  stand  me  any  more. 
Why  can't  she  stand  me?    She  stood  me  for 


THE  SEVENTH  STEP  191 

five  years.  What's  come  over  her  all  of  a 
sudden  that  she  says  it  makes  her  sick  to  kiss 
me?  She  won't  even  let  me  hold  her  hand. 
She  says  it  is  blasphemous.  Blasphemy  to 
touch  my  own  wife's  hand !  You  know  what 
that  means,  don't  you?  She  is  in  love  with 
that— that— " 

"You  can't  swear  here,"  Eveley  broke  in 
quickly.  "I  won't  have  it.  I  think  you  are 
mistaken,  Lem.  She  doesn't  want  a  divorce. 
Not  really.    She  wouldn't,  you  know." 

"But  she  does,  I  tell  you.  She  says  it  is 
sacrilege  to  live  with  me,  and  so  she  is  going 
off  by  herself  to  desert  me,  and  says  I've  got 
to  get  a  divorce  on  those  grounds  when  the 
time  is  up,  or  heaven  only  knows  what  she'll 
do.  Now,  you  got  us  into  this  mess,  and 
you've  got  to  stop  it." 

"I'll  do  what  I  can,  Lem,"  she  promised. 
"And  so  will  Nolan.  But  between  you  and 
me,  I  do  not  blame  her.  I  wouldn't  have  lived 
with  you  two  months,  myself." 

"I  have  never  wanted  another  woman  in 
my  life,"  he  said  brokenly.  "It  has  always 
been  Miriam  with  me  from  the  very  minute 


192  EVE  TO   THE    RESCUE 

I  saw  her.  I  have  fooled  around  a  lot,  I  know, 
but  it's  always  been  Miriam  for  serious." 

"Yes,"  she  said  bitterly.  "That  is  it.  It  is 
just  as  Gordon  says.  A  man  can  fool  around 
and  still  love  his  wife.  But  a  nice  woman 
can't.  She  is  strong  for  one  man — at  a  time. 
When  she  falls  for  a  new  one,  it  is  all  off  with 
the  last.  You  could  love  a  dozen  at  a  time, 
but  Miriam  is  too  nice  for  that." 

"But  you  promised — " 

''Oh,  yes,  I'll  do  what  I  can,  and  I  will  ad- 
vise her  to  stick  it  out,  but  I  think  she  will 
be  very  foolish  if  she  takes  my  advice." 

Nolan  was  immediately  summoned,  and  a 
desperate  struggle  began  vv^ith  Miriam.  But 
it  was  really  no  struggle. 

"Why,  Eveley,"  she  said  reproachfully,  "I 
am  surprised  at  you.  Can't  you  see  that  a 
woman  can  not  live  with  a  man  she  dislikes? 
It  makes  the  shivers  run  down  my  back  when 
he  touches  me.  It — isn't  nice.  It — makes 
me  feel  hke — well,  not  at  all  right.  You  can 
see  that,  can't  you,  Nolan?" 

"I  am  afraid  I  can." 

"But    he    is    your    husband,"    protested 


THE  SEVENTH  STEP  193 

Eveley.  'Isn't  it  your  place  as  his  wife  to — 
to—" 

"Do  you  mean  my  duty,  dear?''  asked 
Miriam,  smiling  faintly.  *1  am  suii)rised  at 
you.  Eve.  No  dear,  it  isn't.  Your  theory 
that  duty  is  happiness  is  half  right.  But  a 
woman  has  one  other  duty  also — self-respect. 
I  am  all  packed  up,  dear,  and  going  to-mor- 
row. You  do  not  mind  my  not  leaving  my 
address,  do  you  ?  I  want  to  go  off  very  quietly 
by  myself.  I  do  not  want  Gordon  to  know.  I 
am  afraid  he  will  blame  himself  for  it.  You 
will  make  him  see  that  it  was  not  he,  at  all, 
won't  you?  And  after  it  is  all  over,  I  shall 
write,  or  maybe  come  to  see  you.  You  will 
ask  him  not  to  look  for  me,  won't  you  ?  There 
has  not  been  a  thing  serious  between  us, 
Eveley,  you  believe  that,  don't  you?" 

"Of  course  I  do.  I  know  it.  I've  chaper- 
oned you  two  till  I  am  fairly  sick  of  it." 

Miriam  smiled  again.  "Be  sure  to  tell  him 
everything  I  said,  will  you  ?" 

Nolan  and  Eveley  were  very  quiet  after 
she  had  gone.    And  Eveley  cried  a  little. 

"I  hope  she  will  be  happy,"  she  said  tear- 
fully. 


194  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"She  will  be.  Gordon  will  wait  for  her,  and 
not  crowd  her.  He  is  like  me.  He  can  talk 
to  a  woman  without  loving  her." 

"You  can,  at  least." 

"At  least,  I  do  not  talk  about  it  all  the 
time,"  he  amended.  "What  I  mean  is  that 
his  affection  is  for  the  one,  and  not  for  the 
sex." 

"Do  you  think  she  did  right,  Nolan?" 

"I  do  not  think  it  is  my  duty  to  judge,"  he 
evaded  cleverly.  "She  had  one  chance  for 
happiness,  and  she  lost.  Now  she  is  to  have 
one  more.  We  are  her  friends,  and  we  love 
her.  We  can  not  begrudge  her  one  more  op- 
portunity, can  we?" 

"No  indeed,  and  you  put  it  very  nicely," 
she  said  more  comfortably.  "Isn't  it  nice 
that  we  do  not  believe  in  duty  ?  But  we  shall 
miss  them.  They  were  very  nice  playmates 
for  us,  as  well  as  for  each  other — Nolan, 
there  was  something  sort  of  sweet  about 
Lem,  after  all?  Something  very  human  and 
lovable  and — ^but  of  course  it  was  Miriam's 
duty  to  be  happy." 


CHAPTER  Xm 
SHE  FINDS  A  FOREIGNER 

EVELEY  had  very  nearly  lost  faith  in  as- 
similation. She  had  thought  it  over 
carefully,  attempted  it  conscientiously  and 
decided  it  could  not  be  done. 

"One  individuality  can  not  be  absorbed  by 
another,"  she  would  say  very  sagely.  "Wheth- 
er it  is  husbands  and  wives,  or  whether  it  is 
nations.  The  theorists  are  right  in  stating 
that  America  is  for  Americans  only,  and  that 
it  is  the  patriotic  duty  of  those  who  come 
here  to  be  Americanized  as  rapidly  as  pos- 
sible, and  the  duty  of  the  regular  Americans 
to  Americanize  everybody  else  at  top  speed — 
but  it  can  not  be  done.  They  are  they,  and 
we  are  we.  It  may  be  our  duty,  but  we  are 
not  big  enough." 

She  did  not  call  her  friendship  with  Angelo 

Moreno  by  any  such  big  and  formal  term  as 

assimilation.     Tliey  had  just  grown  to  be 

enormously  good  friends.    She  had  forgotten 

195 


196  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

about  Americanizing  him,  but  she  found  him 
charming,  with  the  fresh  frank  abandon  of 
the  unspoiled  south-European.  She  hked  his 
open  admiration,  she  enjoyed  his  mature  cyn- 
icism, she  reveled  in  his  buoyant  enthusiasm. 
She  had  not  believed  that  such  opposing  ele- 
ments could  dwell  in  one  small  person.  In 
Angelo,  she  found  them,  and  she  found  the 
combination  good. 

He  was  helpful  to  Eveley,  as  well  as  pleas- 
ing. He  did  endless  small  jobs  for  her  about 
the  car  and  upon  the  lawn  of  her  home.  And 
when  she  noticed  that  he  quickly  adopted 
some  of  her  own  little  customs  of  speech  and 
manner,  she  was  freshly  pleased  and  inter- 
ested. 

Still  she  could  not  harden  her  heart  to  the 
clamorous  call  of  the  world  struggle.  She 
lived  so  happily  and  so  securely  in  her  Cloud 
Cote,  going  to  business  by  day,  doing  her 
small  bits  of  housework  in  between  whiles, 
frolicking  v/ith  her  friends,  chumming  with 
Angelo,  playing  with  her  sister's  babies,  run- 
ning about  in  her  pretty  car.  It  was  like  liv- 
ing in  the  clouds  indeed,  with  the  world  of 


SHE  FINDS  A  FOREIGNER       197 

chaos  beneath.  For  there  was  the  struggle 
of  reconstruction  going  on,  the  tremendous 
heave  and  pull  of  masses  seeking  to  dominate, 
the  subtle  writhe  and  twist  of  politics,  a 
whole  world  straining  and  sinewing  to  rise 
dominant  out  of  the  molten  bed  of  human 
lava  left  from  the  volcanic  eruption  of  war. 

And  although  Eveley  still  lived  serene  in 
her  Cloud  Cote,  it  was  like  living  on  the  edge 
of  the  crater  of  a  volcano.  The  eruption 
would  come,  must  come.  And  when  it  came, 
her  pretty  Cloud  Cote  might  be  caught  in  the 
upheaval.  Sometimes  in  the  evening  she 
stood  breathless  in  the  little  pavilion  on  the 
edge  of  the  canyon  stretching  down  below 
her  home,  and  looked  far  into  the  shadows. 
Being  a  vivid  imaginer,  down  in  the  dark- 
ness she  seemed  to  see  the  world  in  turmoil, 
and  although  she  stood  above  it  on  the 
heights,  she  knew  that  when  the  final  reckon- 
ing came,  there  would  be  no  heights  and  no 
canyon. 

"And  the  only  thing  that  can  stop  it  is 
Americanization,  and  it  is  impossible,"  she 
would  say  helplessly.    "And  there  you  are." 


198  EVE   TO  THE   RESCUE 

But  being  of  a  light  and  happy  heart,  she 
tried  to  forget,  and  plunged  into  her  work 
and  her  play  once  more.  The  consciousness, 
however,  of  a  world  in  travail  was  always 
with  her. 

This  was  why,  when  Amos  Hiltze  came  to 
her  with  an  appeal  for  help  in  a  new  phase 
of  Americanization,  he  found  such  prompt 
and  eager  interest. 

"It  is  not  much.  Miss  Ainsworth,"  he  said 
earnestly,  "and  to  you  it  may  seem  very  aimr 
less  and  trifling  indeed.  But  it  is  something 
definite  at  least,  a  real  tangible  piece  of 
Americanization,  and  you  are  the  only  wom- 
an I  know  who  can  help  us  out." 

"Yes,  yes,  yes,"  she  cried  eagerly.  "I  will, 
of  course.  What  is  it  ?" 

"It  is  a  girl,  a  Spanish  girl  from  Mexico. 
Her  relatives  joined  the  revolutionists,  and 
pouf , — were  blown  out.  By  rare  good  fortune 
she  escaped  across  the  border.  But  what 
chance  has  she?  No  friends, — ^no  training. 
She  has  never  learned  to  meet  and  mingle 
with  people.  And  now  after  the  years  of  hor- 
ror, she  is  afraid.    She  has  lost  her  nerve. 


SHE  FINDS  A  FOREIGNER       199 

She  needs  a  place  where  she  can  be  alone,  and 
quiet,  with  no  one  to  observe  or  criticize.  I 
can  vouch  for  the  girl,  that  she  is  all  right. 
And  I  wondered  if  your  spirit  of  Americaniza- 
tion would  carry  you  to  the  point  of  tempo- 
rarily adopting  her." 

"Oh,  mercy!"  gasped  Eveley,  thinking  with 
great  tenderness  of  her  cozy  little  Cloud  Cote, 
her  home,  and  hers  alone. 

"I  know  it  is  asking  a  great  deal,  but  it 
will  only  be  for  a  few  weeks.  Just  until  some 
proper  arrangements  can  be  made  for  her. 
Unless  she  is  taken  care  of,  and  quickly,  she 
will  fall  a  prey  to  some  anarchistic  Bolshevik, 
or  something  worse.  She  is  living  with  a 
bunch  of  low  Mexicans  away  out  in  the  coun- 
try, and  the  Greasers  come  there  from  all 
around, — and  I  am  afraid  for  the  girl.  If  she 
can  be  taken  now,  treated  kindly,  shown  the 
charm  and  wholesomeness  of  American  cus- 
toms and  principles,  she  will  be  won  for 
America.  A  beautiful  girl,  educated,  talented, 
charming.  Think  what  a  power  she  can  be 
in  the  Americanization  of  her  people,  when 
she  herself  has  been  given  love  and  tender- 
ness and  confidence." 


200  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

Eveley  decided  instantly.  "Very  well,  bring 
her.  I  can  move  the  extra  furniture  out  of 
the  east  bedroom,  and  store  it  in  the  garage, 
and  she  may  have  that  room.  She  will  be 
alone  and  quiet  all  day.  But  I  hardly  know  a 
word  of  Spanish — " 

**0h,  she  speaks  English  perfectly.  You 
are  a  wonderful  girl.  Miss  Ainsworth.  Not 
one  in  a  thousand  would  have  risen  to  such  a 
sacrifice.  If  American  women  were  all  like 
you,  there  would  be  no  need  of  Americaniza- 
tion. A  country  stands  or  falls  by  its  women- 
kind.  And  you  will  not  find  her  burdensome. 
She  does  not  wish  to  meet  people,  her  only 
desire  is  to  be  quiet,  and  let  alone.  She  will 
keep  your  little  home  tidy  for  you,  and  she 
likes  to  cook  and  sew.  She  will  not  bother 
you  much.  How  soon  can  you  have  her 
come  T* 

"It  will  take  about  two  hours  to  get 
ready.  Can  you  come  and  help  me  to-night? 
Angelo  will  help,  too.  We  must  move  the  fur- 
niture and  boxes  out,  and  then  the  room  will 
be  ready  for  her." 

"Then  suppose  we  go  for  her  to-night  ?  She 


SHE  FINDS  A  FOREIGNER      201 

is  about  forty  miles  out  in  the  back  country 
in  a  little  shack  a  mile  off  the  Vie j as  grade. 
If  we  could  leave  about  supper-time,  we'd  get 
there  a  little  after  dark.  She  wants  to  slip 
away  without  attracting  attention.  She  is  a 
nervous  wreck,  literally  scared  to  death.  It 
will  take  a  long  time  to  give  her  confidence 
again,  but  if  any  one  can  do  it,  it  is  you.  Her 
faith  in  humankind  has  been  bitterly  shat- 
tered." 

Eveley  was  fairly  quivering  with  excite- 
ment and  delight.  Her  faith  in  herself  had 
gone  leaping  skyward.  She  was  not  a  slacker, 
not  a  quitter.  She  was  a  regular  American 
after  all,  making  a  real  sacrifice  for  a  prin- 
ciple she  believed  in, — and  oh,  how  she  was 
going  to  assimilate  this  pretty  little  Mexican ! 
Poor  child !  Of  course  she  was  shattered  and 
stunned  and  shocked.  Who  wouldn't  be? 
Things  must  have  been  ghastly  in  Mexico. 
Eveley  herself  was  rather  vague  on  the  sub- 
ject, because  her  philosophy  was  one  of 
peace  and  joy,  and  she  found  that  reading  of 
affairs  in  Mexico  did  not  tend  to  increase 
either  peace  or  joy.  But  she  was  dimly  aware 


202  EVE   TO  THE   RESCUE 

that  the  spirit  of  unrest  prevailing  in  all  the 
world  had  risen  to  open  and  bloody  warfare 
across  the  Rio  Grande. 

Her  work  suffered  very  sadly  that  after- 
noon, and  long  before  the  appointed  hour  she 
was  ringing  furiously  for  the  elevator.  From 
her  incoherent  chatter  on  the  way  down,  An- 
gelo  gathered  that  he  was  literally  to  fly  to 
her  the  very  minute  he  was  off  duty,  and 
then  she  was  clambering  blindly  into  the 
car  and  rushing  around  for  Mr.  Hiltze. 

She  was  quite  in  an  ecstasy  as  they"  set 
about  m,oving  out  the  pieces  of  furniture  to 
be  stored  in  the  back  of  the  big  garage,  and 
fitting  up  an  attractive  home  for  the  wound- 
ed little  Mexican  who  was  to  be  her  g-uest, — 
and  her  food  for  assimilation. 

Amos  Hiltze  was  a  great  help,  and  worked 
with  enthusiasm. 

"I  do  what  I  can,  but  men  are  helpless 
when  it  comes  to  women.  And  when  I  knew 
of  this  child, — ^well,  I  thought  of  you.  If  you 
refused,  I  had  no  notion  where  to  turn.  But 
you  did  not  refuse." 

**No,  indeed,"  chirped  Eveley.  "I  am  only 


SHE   FINDS  A  FOREIGNER       203 

too  happy.  I  want  to  do  things,  real  things, 
and  be  of  use.  It — It  is  right,  I  suppose,  and 
lots  of  fun  besides." 

At  six  o'clock  Angelo  came,  and  looked  for 
a  moment  with  speculative  eyes  upon  Mr. 
Hiltze.  He  was  not  enthusiastic, — rather  he 
was  frankly  pessimistic. 

"Why  don't  you  send  her  to  a  hotel?"  he 
demanded  aggressively.  ''You  don't  want  a 
dirty  Greaser  in  here,  messing  things  all  up." 

"Oh,  Angelo,  you  mustn't,"  protested  Eve- 
ley,  deeply  shocked.  "She  isn't  a  Greaser. 
She  is  a  high  caste  Mexican  girl." 

"There  ain't  no  such  thing,"he  said  gloom- 
ily. "You'll  see.  She'll  litter  the  whole  place 
up  with  a  lot  of  smelly  bandits,  and  they'll 
cut  your  throat,  and  steal  your  money,  and 
then  where'll  you  be?" 

Then  Amos  Hiltze  turned  on  him,  with 
something  compelling  in  his  eyes.  "Cut  out 
that  nonsense,  and  mind  your  own  business. 
This  is  not  your  affair." 

So  Angelo  resigned  himself  to  the  inevit- 
able, and  fell  to  work,  not  with  good  will, 
but  with  efficiency.  And  when  the  room  was 


204  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

ready,  while  the  man  and  boy  were  carrying 
the  extra  furniture  out  to  the  garage  for 
storage,  Eveley  hastily  prepared  a  light  sup- 
per for  the  three  of  them.  It  was  eaten  in 
utter  silence.  Eveley  was  excited  almost  to 
the  point  of  suffocation,  and  the  others  were 
imm^ersed  in  their  own  thoughts.  She  hastily 
cleared  the  dishes  from  the  table,  and  put  on 
her  heavy  coat  and  a  small  hat. 

"Where  do  you  go  to  get  your  Spanish 
queen?"  demanded  Angelo. 

"Oh,  a  long  way  out  in  the  country,"  said 
Eveley  nervously.  "We  must  hurry,  Angelo. 
It  is  getting  late." 

"Are  you  going  in  your  car  ?"  he  persisted. 

"Yes.  Now,  please,  Angelo,  I  hate  to  rush 
you  off,  but  we  must  go." 

"Take  me  along.  Miss  Eveley.  Please — 
you've  got  plenty  of  room.  Won't  you  take 
me?" 

"Nothing  doing,"  cut  in  Amos  Hiltze 
shortly.  "We've  got  to  keep  the  girl  quiet, 
and  you  would  let  out  some  rudeness  that 
would  spoil  everything." 

"Honest  I  won't.  Miss  Eveley.   Gwan,  be 


SHE  FINDS  A  FOREIGNER       205 

a  sport.  You  promised  to  take  me  for  a  night 
ride,  and  you  never  have.  I  won't  say  a  word 
to  the  Grea — lady,  honest  I  won't.  Be  a  sport, 
Miss  Eveley,  sure  I  can  go  along." 

''Let's  take  him,"  said  Eveley.  **He  can  sit 
in  front  with  me  coming  back,  and  you  can 
ride  with  Marie.  He  won't  say  a  word,  will 
you,Angelo?" 

Mr.  Hiltze  seemed  not  altogether  satisfied, 
but  Angelo  was  already  half-way  down  the 
rustic  stairs  and  headed  for  the  garage,  so 
he  contented  him^self  with  one  final  word  of 
warning. 

"Just  keep  quiet,"  he  said  to  Angelo.  "Do 
not  even  look  at  her.  There  must  be  no  fuss 
or  confusion,  or  she  will  be  afraid  to  come." 

There  was  a  heavy  fog  rolling  up  through 
the  canyons,  and  Eveley,  in  her  state  of  ex- 
citement, found  the  car  prone  to  leap  wildly 
through  the  misty  white  darkness.  There 
was  a  great  ringing  in  her  ears,  and  her 
pulses  were  pounding.  Hiltze  at  her  side  was 
silent  and  preoccupied,  and  Angelo  in  the 
rear  sat  huddled  in  a  corner,  in  the  rug  which 
Eveley  had  tucked  about  him. 


206  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"We  do  not  want  any  frozen  passengers  to 
bring  home,"  she  had  said,  with  a  smile. 

They  spun  swiftly  along  University,  slow- 
ing for  East  San  Diego  where  there  were 
officers  with  bad  reputations  among  speed- 
erg,  through  La  Mesa,  the  cross  on  Mt. 
Helix  showing  faintly  in  the  pale  moonlight, 
through  El  Capon,  out  beyond  Flynn  Springs 
where  the  pavement  left  off. 

"Are  you  tired?"  asked  the  man,  stirring 
closer  to  Eveley's  side. 

"No,"  she  said„  with  a  laugh  that  was 
really  a  sob.  "But  I  am  so  out  of  breath,  and 
thrilled,  and — all  stirred  up,  like  a  silly  little 
schoolgirl.  I  believe  I  am  frightened." 

"Do  not  be  frightened.  Miss  Eveley,"  said 
Angelo  suddenly,  reassuringly.  "I'll  look 
after  you.  If  we  do  not  like  the  little  Greaser, 
we'll  just  ditch  her." 

"You  must  not  be  afraid,"  said  Hiltze, 
pressing  his  arm  companionably  against  her 
elbow.  "You  know  I  will  take  care  of  you. 
And  you  will  like  the  girl.  She  is  just  a  timid, 
nerve-racked  child.  You  will  love  her  in  time. 
But  this  is  not  a  question  of  love,  only  of 


SHE   FINDS  A  FOREIGNER       207 

service, — one  phase  of  the  scheme  of  Amer- 
icanization that  is  sweeping  the  country.  It 
has  to  come  through  the  women,  Eveley,  you 
know  that.  It  has  to  be  bom  into  the  babies 
of  the  next  generation." 

An  audible  sniff  came  from  the  back  seat, 
but  Angelo  was  lustily  clearing  his  throat. 

*'You  sound  like  a  stump  speaker,''  he  said 
critically.  ''Did  you  get  that  way  selling 
autos,  or  did  you  used  to  be  an  agitator  or 
something?" 

Mr.  Hiltze  made  no  reply.  He  was  leaning 
forward  now,  anxiously  scanning  the  road. 
"We  turn  soon.  Drive  slowly,  please.  I  do  not 
know  the  road  very  well.  Oh, — there  it  is, — 
I  see  it  now.  Just  beyond  the  little  clump  of 
trees,  this  side  of  the  big  rock.  Turn  to  the 
right, — the  road  is  safe  enough,  but  a  little 
rough.  We  only  go  a  little  farther, — yes,  to 
the  right  a  little  more, — down-grade,  but  it 
is  not  very  steep.  Now,  pull  off  a  little  and 
stop.  Yes,  you  wait  here  now,  will  you,  while 
I  go  on  to  the  shack  ?  The  road  does  not  lead 
up  to  it.  You  need  not  be  afraid,  you  are  close 
to  the  main  road  though  you  can  not  see  it 


208  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

for  the  shrubs  and  rocks.  She  does  not  want 
the  Mexicans  to  know  where  nor  how  she 
goes." 

"Will  you  be  gone  long?"  asked  Eveley, 
gazing  somewhat  fearfully  into  the  black 
shadows  about  her. 

"Oh,  just  a  few  minutes.  It  is  only  a  little 
bit  of  a  way,  and  Marie  is  ready  to  come  at 
once." 

"How  does  she  know  you  are  coming  after 
her?"  asked  Angelo. 

"I  told  her  I  would  come  to-night  if  I  could 
make  arrangements  for  her,  and  she  said  she 
would  be  ready.  She  has  only  a  small  bag,  so 
her  preparations  are  simple.  Now,  don't  be 
frightened,  Eveley.  You  know  I  would  not 
leave  you  if  there  were  any  danger.  Angelo 
will  be  with  you." 

"You  bet  I  will.  Beat  it,  Mister,  and  cop 
the  lady." 

Eveley  and  Angelo  listened  in  silence,  as 
Hiltze  strode  quickly  away.  When  the  last 
sound  had  echoed  to  silence,  Angelo  leaned 
over  the  seat,  his  thin  dark  face  close  to 
Eveley's. 


SHE  FINDS  A  FOREIGNER       20& 

"Say,  Miss  Eveley,  where  did  you  pick  up 
that  guy?" 

"He  was  the  salesman  who  sold  me  my 
car,  but  he  has  many  friends  who  are  my 
friends  also,  so  I  have  met  him  often.  He 
was  only  selling  autos  temporarily,  and  is 
making  plans  now  to  go  into  business  for 
himself/' 

"I'll  bet  your  friend  Inglish  ain't  stuck  on 
hun." 

"Not  unnaturally,"  admitted  Eveley,  laugh- 
ing.   "He  is  not." 

"Well,  he's  a  smart  guy,  Inglish  is,"  said 
Angelo  shrewdly.  **You  can  pretty  well  put 
it  down  he's  on  the  level  about  folks." 

"You  do  not  seem  partial  to  Mr.  Hiltze, 
Angelo.  But  he  is  most  kind  and  sympa- 
thetic, and  no  one  works  harder  for  the 
Americanization  of  the  foreign  element  than 
he  does." 

"Lots  of  folks  work  hard  for  something 
to  keep  the  real  things  dark.  I  guess  he's 
got  a  mash  on  this  dame." 

Eveley  was  silent. 

"Don't  you  think  so?" 


210  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"No,  I  hardly  think  so." 

''Oh,  you  can't  tell.  Some  guys  can  have 
mashes  on  two  or  three  at  a  time,  you  know." 

"Angelo,  please,  let's  not  talk  this  way.  I 
do  not  like  it.  And  I  do  not  wish  my  friends 
to  criticize  my  other  friends.  I  know  you 
like  Mr.  Inglish  best  of  all,  and  that  is  why 
you  try  to  underrate  the  others — ^but  please 
don't." 

"Oh,  I  think  he  is  smart  enough,"  said 
Angelo  ingratiatingly.  "It  ain't  that.  I  just 
don't  like  his  wishing  foreign  dames  off  on 
to  you  because  you  are  easy  and  will  stand 
for  it." 

"Listen — ^they  are  coming." 

Angelo  got  out  then  and  clambered  in  be- 
side her,  and  they  both  peered  into  the  dark- 
ness whence  footsteps  came.  The  two  were 
walking  slowly,  Hiltze  leading  the  girl  care- 
fully. She  walked  shrinkingly,  her  face 
showing  deathly  pale  in  the  shadowy  night. 

Eveley  got  out  at  once  and  went  to  meet 
them,  surprised  at  the  great  wave  of  ten- 
derness sweeping  over  her.  She  felt  some- 
how that  it  was  a  daughter  of  hers,  coming 


SHE  FINDS  A  FOREIGNER       211 

back  to  her  out  of  suffering  and  sorrow.  She 
put  her  arms  protectingly  about  the  girl,  and 
kissed  her  cheek. 

"Marie,"  she  said  softly,  "you  are  going  to 
be  my  sister.  I — I  think  I  love  you  already. 
I  felt  it  when  I  saw  you  come  out  of  the 
darkness." 

The  girl  did  not  speak,  but  her  slender  fin- 
gers closed  convulsively  about  Eveley's,  and 
there  was  a  catch  like  a  little  sob  in  her 
throat. 

Eveley  herself  helped  her  into  the  car,  and 
pulled  the  rugs  and  blankets  about  her. 

"It  is  very  foggy,  and  the  air  is  cold.  We 
do  not  want  a  little  sick  girl  on  our  hands. 
Pull  them  close  about  you.  Oh,  your  cape  is 
very  light — you  must  take  my  furs.  It  is 
much  wanner  in  front,  and  I  do  not  need 
them.  Now,  are  you  all  ready?  This  is  my 
little  pal  Angelo  Moreno  with  me,  but  don't 
pay  any  attention  to  him  to-night.  You  will 
see  him  again.  Now,  all  ready  and  off  we  go." 

Angelo  sat  silently  musing  in  his  comer 
during  the  long  ride  back  to  town,  and  Eveley 
sang  softly  almost  beneath  her  breath.    In 


212  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

the  back  seat  there  was  silence,  too.  Only 
once  Eveley  turned  to  call  to  them  blithely: 

"I  was  frightened  and  anxious  at  first,  but 
now  I  feel  happy  and  full  of  hope.  I  think 
you  are  going  to  bring  me  great  good  for- 
tune, Sister  Marie." 

"You  are — most  heavenly  kind,"  said 
Marie,  in  slow  soft  English,  with  the  exqui- 
site toning  of  her  Spanish  tongue. 

"Oh,  Marie,"  cried  Eveley  rapturously. 
"Those  are  the  first  words  I  ever  heard  you 
say — such  kind  and  loving  words.  I  shall 
never  forget  them." 

The  rest  of  the  ride  was  taken  in  absolute 
silence,  and  at  the  door  of  her  cottage  when 
she  ran  the  car  into  the  garage,  Angelo  car- 
ried Marie's  bag  up  the  steps  silently,  and 
Hiltze  helped  her,  while  Eveley  ran  hospi- 
tably in  front  to  have  the  window  open  and 
the  lights  on.  She  thrust  out  an  eager  hand 
to  help  Marie  through  the  v/indow,  and  then 
she  gaily  faced  their  escorts. 

"Not  to-night,"  she  cried.  "You  can  not 
come  in  even  for  a  minute.  Sister  Marie  and 
I  are  going  to  have  hot  chocolate  all  by  our- 


SHE   FINDS  A  FOREIGNER       213 

selves,  and — and  find  out  how  we  like  each 
other's  looks.    Many  thanks — good  night." 

Then  she  closed  the  window  and  turned  to 
the  slender  shrinking  figure  at  her  side,  draw- 
ing back  the  heavy  hood  that  shielded  the 
girl's  face  to  look  into  the  features  of  the 
little  foreign  waif  she  had  taken  to  her  heart. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
ITEW  LIGHT  ON  LOYALTY 

A  QUICK  thrill  of  pleasure  swept  over 
Eveley  as  she  looked  into  the  face  of 
her  young  guest. 

"Duty?"  No,  it  would  be  a  joy  to  teach 
this  soft  and  lovely  creature  the  glorious  prin- 
ciples of  freedom,  justice  and  equality.  This 
was  Eveley's  sphere — she  felt  it — she  knew 
it.  She  took  Marie's  slender  hands  in  both 
of  hers,  and  squeezed  them  rapturously. 

"Oh,  I  am  so  happy,"  she  cried  ecstati- 
cally.   *T  think  you  are  adorable." 

For  Marie's  soft  dark  eyes,  the  soft  waves 
of  dark  hair  drooping  over  the  low  forehead, 
the  slender  oval  of  the  olive  tinted  face,  the 
crimson  curving  lips,  the  shrinking  figure 
presented  such  a  picture  of  exquisite  help- 
lessness that  Eveley's  brave  and  buoyant  soul 
rose  leaping  to  the  appeal. 

She  removed  the  dark  cape  from  Marie's 
shoulders,  and  took  her  bag,  leading  her  into 
214 


NEW  LIGHT  ON  LOYALTY        215 

the  small  east  bedroom  which  had  been  so 
charmingly  dressed  for  her. 

*This  is  your  home  now,  ]\Iarie,  I  hope  for 
a  long,  long  time.  It  is  your  home,  and  you 
are  as  free  as  a  bird.  You  are  not  my  serv- 
ant, but  my  sister  and  my  friend.  I  want  you 
to  be  happy.  You  are  to  think  as  you  like, 
do  as  you  like,  go  or  stay  as  you  like.  You 
are  mistress  of  your  own  life,  now  and  all 
the  time." 

"It  is  very  lovely,'*  said  Marie  softly. 
"And  you  are  an  angel  from  Heaven." 

"Not  a  bit  of  it,"  laughed  Eveley.  "You  do 
not  know  me.  I  am  the  humanest  thing  you 
ever  saw  in  your  life."  She  lifted  Marie's 
bag  Hghtly  to  a  low  table.  "Now,  this  door 
opens  to  the  bath — my  bedroom  door  leads 
into  it  from  the  opposite  side.  And  this  is 
your  closet,  and  these  drawers  are  all  empty, 
so  use  them  as  you  wish.  Why  don't  you  put 
on  a  negligee,  now,  and  rest  ?  And  while  you 
are  alone  for  a  minute,  to  collect  yourself 
and  unpack  your  bag,  I  shall  run  out  and  put 
on  the  chocolate.  \Ye  must  have  a  hot  lunch- 
eon after  our  cold  ride.  Are  you  very  cold  ?  I 


216  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

think  rd  better  light  the  fire  in  your  grate — 
it  is  all  ready.  There,  that  is  better  now.  If 
I  ever  do  get  married  I  must  certainly  have 
wonderful  luck,  if  there  is  any  faith  in  signs, 
for  I  do  build  the  fieriest  fires.  Now,  do  not 
hurry,  I'll  come  back  in  a  few  minutes.  I 
think  I  shall  put  on  a  negligee  too,"  she 
added,  as  Marie  drew  a  silk  gown  from  her 
bag.  ''And  then  we'll  be  surely  settled  down 
and  right  at  home  together." 

With  a  warm  and  dazzling  smile,  she  ran 
out  to  put  the  chocolate  on  the  grill,  and  ar- 
range the  sandwiches  and  fruit  and  cake  on 
the  table  around  the  bowl  of  drooping  roses, 
and  then,  humming  blithely,  hurried  into  her 
own  room  to  change  from  her  heavy  dress  to 
a  soft  house  gown. 

When,  a  few  moments  later,  she  returned 
to  Marie,  she  found  her  standing  pensively  in 
the  center  of  the  room,  the  heavy  folds  of  a 
dark  red  gown  falling  about  her  gi'acef ul  fig- 
ure, her  head  sunk  on  her  breast  in  reverie. 
Eveley  put  her  arms  around  her  tenderly. 

"You  are  beautiful,"  she  said.  "Don't 
worry,  dear.    You  are  going  to  be  very  happy. 


NEW  LIGHT  ON  LOYALTY        217 

even  yet.  Just  trust  me — and — do  you  know 
the  song  of  the  Belgian  girl —  Well,  we  shall 
make  an  American  Beauty  of  you,  sure 
enough.  Just  try  to  be  happy,  and  have  con- 
fidence in  me,  Marie.  I  shall  never  go  back 
on  you.  My,  how  quick  you  were!  Your 
bag  is  all  unpacked,  isn't  it?"  She  glanced 
with  quickly  appraising  eyes  at  the  heavy 
silver  articles  of  toilet  laid  out  on  the  dress- 
ing-table, and  at  the  gowns  swinging  from 
the  pole  in  the  closet. 

"Come  along,  baby  sister,"  she  said  affec- 
tionately, ''or  the  chocolate  will  run  all  over 
the  grill." 

There  was  deep  if  unvoiced  appreciation  in 
Marie's  eyes  as  she  observed  the  fine  heavy 
furniture  of  the  little  dining-room,  the  lace 
doilies  on  the  mahogany  table,  the  fine  pieces 
of  china,  and  the  drooping  roses.  Eveley  led 
her  gaily  to  her  place  at  the  table,  and  sat 
down  beside  her. 

*We  really  ought  to  ask  a  blessing,"  she 
said.  "I  feel  such  a  fountain  of  gratitude  in- 
side of  me.  My  o^vn  sister  was  ten  years 
older  than  I,  and  there  were  no  babies  after- 


218  EVE    TO  THE    RESCUE 

ward  for  me  to  make  a  fuss  over.  This  is  a 
brand-new  experience,  and  I  am  just  bub- 
bling over." 

"But  I  am  no  baby,"  said  Marie,  smiling 
the  wistful  smile  that  suggested  tears  and 
heartaches.  *'I  think  I  am  quite  as  old  as 
you." 

"Oh,  impossible,"  gasped  Eveley.  "Why, 
I  am  twenty-five  years  old." 

"Really!"  mocked  Marie,  and  she  laughed 
— and  Eveley  realized  it  was  the  first  time 
Marie  had  laughed.  "Well,  I  am  twenty- 
three  and  a  half." 

"Oh,  you  can't  be.  Mr.  Hiltze  said  you 
were  a  child,  and  you  are  so  little  and  slim 
and  young." 

"You  have  been  a  woman,  living  a  woman's 
life,  with  all  a  woman's  interests.  But  our 
women  are  sheltered,  kept  away  from;  life, 
and  that  is  why  I  am  like  a  child  in  facing 
the  world — because  I  have  never  faced  it.  I 
look  young,  and  act  young,  because — ^well, 
with  us,  our  w^omen  marry  early.  If  they 
do  not,  they  must  retain  the  charm  of  youth 
until  they  do.    That  is  what  we  are  taught. 


NEW  LIGHT  ON  LOYALTY        219 

it  is  our  business  as  women  to  be  young  and 
lovely  until  we  marry." 

"I  love  to  hear  you  talk,"  said  Eveley  ir- 
relevantly. *Tou  are  just  like  a  chapter  out 
of  a  new  and  thrilling  story —  See,  I  have  let 
my  chocolate  grow  cold  just  looking  at  you, 
and  listening.  I  am  very  glad  you  are  nearly 
as  old  as  I — ^we  can  not  only  be  sisters,  but 
twins  if  you  like." 

Marie  sipped  her  chocolate,  daintily,  dream- 
ily.   Then  she  looked  at  Eveley  searchingly. 

"Is  this  your  patriotism?"  she  asked  at 
last.  "To  throw  open  your  home  on  a  mo- 
ment's notice,  to  a  stranger  from  a  strange 
land?" 

"We  call  it  Americanization,"  said  Eveley. 
"We  call  it  the  assim.ilation  of — of — "  She 
hesitated,  not  v/ishing  to  speak  of  "flotsam 
and  jefsam"  to  this  soft  and  pliant  creature. 
"We  call  it  the  assimilation  of  the  whole 
world  into  American  ideals." 

"Then,"  said  Marie  slowly,  dark  eyes  still 
searching  Eveley 's  face,  "I  suppose,  having 
this  vision  of  patriotism  yourself,  you  can 
understand  patriotism  of  others  from  other 


220  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

lands  ?  You  can  understand  why  people  plot^ 
and  steal,  and  kill — for  love  of  country  ?  My 
own  land,  for  instance — so  many  call  us 
bloody  butchers  because  we  fight  for  our 
country  and  for  freedom.  But  you — you 
know  what  patriotism  is.  And  you  can  un- 
derstand, can  you  not  ?" 

*'0f  course  I  understand,"  said  Eveley 
rather  confusedly,  for  the  Mexican  business 
was  a  terrible  muddle  to  her.  *'I  understand 
that  your  men  must  fight  to  save  their  coun- 
try from  the  rebels  and  anarchists  who  would 
wreck  and  ruin  her." 

**Yes,  but — it  is  the  rebels  and  anarchists 
who  would  save  her,"  said  Marie,  with  child- 
ish earnestness.  "I — we — I  am  of  the  revo- 
lutionists. My  father  was  killed.  My  brothers 
were  killed.  My  sisters  were  made  cap- 
tive. But  still  the  struggle  goes  on.  The 
best  of  our  men  must  fight  and  die.  Poor 
Mexico  must  struggle  and  blunder  on  from 
one  disaster  to  another,  until  at  last  she  rises 
triumphant  and  free  among  the  nations  of  the 
world.  It  is  those  in  power  in  her  own  land 
from  whom  Mexico  has  most  to  fear — ^those 


NEW  LIGHT  ON  LOYALTY         221 

who  would  sell  her,  body  and  soul,  land  and 
loyalty,  to  foreign  devils  for  gold.  It  is  not 
against  the  outside  world  we  fight — it  is  the 
vile,  the  treacherous  ones  inside  our  borders." 

"But  how  can  you  tell  who  is  for,  and  who 
against?"  asked  Eveley  bewildered.  'They 
all  promise  so  much — and  peace  is  assured — 
but  there  is  no  peace.  And  who  can  tell 
where  freedom  really  lies  ?" 

*'Alas,  it  is  true,"  said  Marie  sadly.  "But 
those  with  eyes  that  see  and  hearts  that  love, 
know  that  Mexico  is  still  in  the  hands  of  trait- 
ors, and  that  the  spirit  of  revolution  must 
live." 

"Of  course  you  know  more  about  it  than 
I  do,"  admitted  Eveley.  "We — we  do  not 
understand  the  situation  at  all.  I — think 
perhaps  they  are  too  shrewd  for  us.  Let's  not 
talk  of  it — it  excites  you,  dear.  I  want  you 
to  rest  and  be  quiet.  I  did  not  know  that  any 
one  could  love — Mexico — like  that . " 

"Have  you  seen  Mexico  ?  Oh,  not  the  dry, 
barren  border  country,  but  my  Mexico,  rich 
with  jewels  and  gold,  studded  with  magnifi- 
cent cities,  flowering  with  rare  fruits  and 


222  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

spices,  a  mellow,  golden,  matchless  land,  peo- 
pled by  those  who  are  skilled  in  arts  and 
science,  lovers  of  beauty,  and —  Ah,  you  do 
not  know  Mexico.  You  know  only  the  half- 
breed  savages  who  run  the  borderland,  prey- 
ing on  Mexican  and  American  alike.  You  do 
not  know  the  real  Mexico  of  beautiful  women, 
and  brave  and  gallant  men.  How  could  you 
know?" 

Then  her  voice  became  soft  and  dreamy 
again.  "I  visited  here  long  years  ago.  I  was 
out  in  your  Old  Town,  where  the  Indian  maid 
Ramona  lived.  I  stood  in  the  square  there. 
Do  you  know  the  story,  Eveley,  of  the  early 
days  when  your  Captain  Fremont  and  his 
band  of  soldiers  stood  there,  ready  to  lower 
the  flag  of  Mexico  and  to  raise  in  its  place 
your  Stars  and  Stripes?  As  your  soldier 
stepped  forward  to  tear  down  our  flag,  a  little 
girl  of  Mexico,  another  Marie  like  me,  who 
was  watching  with  aching  heart  from  the 
window  of  the  'dobe  house  on  the  other  side, 
shocked  at  the  outrage,  leaped  from  the  case- 
ment forgetting  her  fear  of  the  foreign  sol- 
diers, and  with  one  tug  of  her  sharp  knife 


NEW  LIGHT  ON  LOYALTY         223 

cut  the  rope.  As  the  flag  of  Mexico  fell,  she 
caught  it  in  her  bare  hands,  and  pressed  it 
against  her  lips,  her  little  form  shaken  with 
sobs.  Torgive  me,'  she  said  to  the  soldiers, 
*but  it  is  the  flag  of  my  country,  I  could  not 
see  it  dragged  in  the  dust.' " 

Eveley  leaned  over  and  put  her  hand  on 
Marie's  arm.  "I  have  heard  the  story  many 
times,  but  I  never  caught  the  glory  of  it  be- 
fore. It  was  the  feeling  in  her  that  is  in  me 
now — that  is  in  all  America — only  ours  is  for 
America,  and  hers  was  for  Mexico — as  yours 
is." 

"When  I  look  at  you,  and  know  the  ten- 
derness of  you,  and  the  great  heart  of  you, 
I  feel  that  America  must  be  the  heaven  of  all 
the  world,  and  Americans  the  angels."  Then 
Marie's  face  darkened,  and  her  lips  became  a 
scarlet  line.  "But  who  then  has  stood  heart- 
lessly by,  and  watched  the  writhing  and  an- 
guish of  my  Mexico,  withholding  the  hand  of 
power  that  could  bring  peace?  Who  has 
stood  by  and  smiled  while  Mexico  lay  crushed 
and  bleeding  beneath  the  heel  of  despotism 
and  treachery?" 


224  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

*'We  haven^t  understood,  Marie,"  begged 
Eveley.  "We  could  not  understand.  We — 
we  naturally  trust  people,  we  are  like  that, 
you  know,  and — " 

"And  whom  can  one  trust?  My  faith  has 
been  as  my  faith  in  God — yet  when  so  many 
falter,  and  then  turn  back  in  betrayal — how 
can  one  trust?  Perhaps  we  are  all  deceived 
— perhaps  every  faction  in  my  country  is 
seeking  only  to  despoil  and  enslave."  Then 
her  face  grew  bright  and  luminous  as  she 
said,  "But  there  are  those  who  are  princes 
of  sacrifice  and  love,  risking  all  their  world, 
their  lives,  their  honor,  for  my  Mexico.  If 
there  be  any  faith,  it  is  in  them.  You  call 
them  bandits — Yes?  I  call  them  sons  of 
God." 

Eveley  changed  the  subject  as  quickly  as 
she  could.  The  bandits  who  had  been  driven 
desperately  from  crag  to  cranny,  berated  in 
the  press,  denounced  in  the  pulpit,  deprecated 
on  the  platform — were  these  the  princes  of 
Marie's  Mexico,  the  idols  of  their  women's 
hearts,  the  saviors  of  their  faith,  their  hope 
of  freedom  ?    It  was  very  confusing. 


NEW  LIGHT  ON  LOYALTY        223 

She  told  Marie  how  she  worked  every  day 
down-town,  and  how  the  little  Cloud  Cote 
would  be  her  own  all  day,  how  she  had  friends 
coming*  often  in  the  evening,  friends  who 
would  love  Marie,  but  whom  she  never  need 
to  see  except  when  her  heart  desired.  And 
she  told  of  the  lovely  lawn,  with  its  pavilions 
and  pergolas  and  crevices  and  vines,  and  of 
the  canyon  drifting  away  down  to  the  bay. 

And  Marie  sat  with  her  chin  in  her  hands, 
her  eyes  soft  and  humble,  dog-like,  on 
Eveley's  face. 


CHAPTER  XV 
SERVICE   OF  JOY 

IT  WAS  not  often  that  Eileen  Trevis,  who 
was  manifestly  born  for  business,  waxed 
hysterically  enthusiastic.  And  so  one  morn- 
ing a  few  days  later,  when  an  incoherent  sum- 
mons came  from  her  over  the  telephone.  Eve- 
ley  was  astonished  almost  to  the  point  of 
speechlessness. 

"What  is  it?"  she  gasped.  ''What  has  hap- 
pened ?  Is  it  bad  news  ?" 

"Good,  good,  good,"  exulted  Eileen.  "Won- 
derful, delicious,  thrilling.  Please  hurry.  It 
is  nearly  lunch-time,  isn't  it?  I  have  been 
trying  to  get  you  all  morning, — come  quickly. 
— Never  mind  about  your  luncheon. — Are 
you  coming?" 

"I  am  on  the  way,"  shouted  Eveley,  crash- 
ing the  receiver  on  to  its  hook,  and  flying 
with  scant  ceremony  from  the  office,  hoping 
it  was  truly  the  luncheon  hour,  but  scorning 
to  waste  the  time  to  look. 
226 


SERVICE  OF  JOY  227 

"She  is  in  love,"  she  said  aloud  as  she  ran 
down  the  stairs,  spurning  a  tardy  elevator. 
"She  is  in  love,  and  she  is  engaged,  or  maybe 
she  has  eloped  and  is  already  married.  Eileen 
Trevis, — of  all  people  in  the  world.  Whoever 
would  have  thought  it  ?" 

Only  the  absence  of  traffic  officers  in  that 
part  of  the  city  kept  Eveley  from  arrest  that 
day,  and  only  the  protection  of  Heaven  itself 
saved  her  from  total  wreckage,  for  she  spun 
around  corners,  and  dodged  traffic  warts  at 
a  rate  that  was  positively  neck-breaking.  The 
last  block  before  she  reached  Eileen's  home 
was  one  long  coast,  and  she  drew  up  sharply 
with  a  triumphant  honk. 

Eileen  was  on  the  steps  before  she  had 
time  to  turn  off  the  engine. 

"Is  it  a  husband?"  cried  Eveley. 

"No,  babies,"  chortled  Eileen. 

Eveley  put  her  fingers  over  her  lips,  and 
swallowed  painfully. 

"It  isn't  your  turn,"  she  said  disapprov- 
ingly. "You  have  to  do  these  things  in  proper 
order.  You  can't  run  backward.  It  isn't 
being  done." 


228  EVE   TO   THE   KESCUE 

"Don't  be  silly,"  said  Eileen.  *'Hop  out, 
and  come  in.  I  am  having  a  nursery  made  out 
of  the  maid's  bedroom  that  has  never  been 
used.  It  is  perfectly  dear,  with  blue  Red- 
Riding-Hoods,  and  blue  wolves  and  blue 
Jacks-and- Jills  on  a  white  background." 

"There  is  something  wrong  about  this," 
said  Eveley  solemnly,  as  she  followed  Eileen 
into  the  house,  and  up  the  two  flights  of 
stairs  to  her  apartment. 

"It  is  Ida's  babies,  stupid,"  explained  Eileen 
at  last.  "I  am  to  have  them  after  all.  Poor 
Jim's  sister  is  ill,  and  I  must  say,  it  almost 
serves  her  right, — she  was  so  snippy  about 
the  children." 

"Oh,  Ida's  babies!  And  has  the  Aunt-on- 
the-Other-Side-of-the-House  had  a  change  of 
heart?" 

"Yes,  a  regular  one.  Heart  failure,  they 
call  it.  I  tried  so  hard  to  get  them  when  Ida 
died,  but  Agnes  flatly  refused  to  give  them 
up  and  since  her  brother  was  their  daddy  and 
he  was  alive,  I  could  not  do  much.  I  asked 
for  them  again,  you  know,  when  Jim  died,  and 
she  was  ruder  than  ever.  But  since  the  dis- 


SERVICE  OF  JOY  229 

pensation  of  heart  failure,  she  can  not  keep 
them.  I  got  a  letter  this  morning,  and  wired 
for  them  to  start  immediately  and  I  just  got 
an  ansv/er  that  they  will  be  here  to-morrow 
afternoon.  Then  I  sent  for  the  decorators." 

"You  aren't  any  mother  for  small  chil- 
dren," protested  Eveley,  with  an  argument- 
ative wave  of  her  hand.  '*You  are  bom  for 
business.  Everybody  says  so.  You  do  not 
know  anything  about  babies." 

"Oh,  yes  I  do,"  cried  Eileen  ecstatically. 
**They  have  fat  legs  and  dimples,  and  Betty 
sucks  her  thum.b  and  has  to  be  scolded,  and 
Billy  shouts  'More  jam'  and  smudges  it  on 
his  knees." 

"Are  you  giving  up  your  position  ?" 

"Oh,  mercy,  no.  We  have  to  live.  Poor  Jim 
only  left  them  insurance  and  nothing  else, 
and  that  did  not  last  very  long.  I  sent  the 
other  aunt  a  small  check  every  month  to  help 
along  and  sort  of  heap  coals  of  fire  on  her 
head  at  the  same  time.  No,  I  shall  have  to 
work  harder  than  ever  now.  But  I  get  one 
seventy-five  a  month  now, — and  lots  of  fam- 
ilies live  on  less." 


230  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"Who  will  keep  house  then— Betty?" 

"Don't  ask  silly  questions,  Eveley,  I  am  so 
nervous  anyhow  I  hardly  know  what  I  am 
saying.  You  remember  my  laundress,  don't 
you  ?  She  is  so  nice  and  motherly  and  a  Meth- 
odist and  respectable  and  all  that, — only  old 
and  hard  up.  She  is  coming  to  live  v/itK  us, — 
she  will  have  the  den  for  her  room,  and  is 
closing  her  cottage.  She  is  to  keep  house  and 
look  after  the  babies  while  I  am  at  work. 
She  only  charges  twenty-five  a  month,  so  I 
can  manage.  The  rent  does  seem  high,  fifty 
dollars, — but  we  need  the  room,  though 
you  all  thought  it  was  so  extravagant  for  me 
to  have  such  a  large  apartment  to  myself. 
But  you  know  how  I  am,  Eveley, — I  like  lots 
of  space, — a  place  for  everything,  and  every- 
thing where  it  belongs.  So  I  was  willing  to 
stand  the  expense,  and  now  it  is  a  good  thing 
I  did.  Come  and  see  the  baby  room." 

Eveley  duly  admired  the  blue  Red-Biding- 
Hoods  and  Jacks-and-Jills,  exclaimed  over  the 
tiny  Vv^hite  beds,  and  tiny  white  tables  and 
chairs,  and  then  said: 

"You  seem  to  be  enjoying  this  experience. 


SERVICE  OF  JOY  231 

so  I  suppose  you  do  not  feel  it  is  your  duty, 
nor  anything  sordid  like  that  ?" 

"Oh,  no,"  laughed  Eileen.  "I  am  doing  it  be- 
cause I  am,  just  crazy  about  those  babies,  and 
I  am  sort  of  lonely,  Eveley,  though  I  have 
never  realized  it  before.  And  when  I  think  of 
coming  home  to  a  frolic  with  fat  little  babies 
in  white  dresses  and  blue  ribbons, — ^well,  I 
am  so  happy  I  could  fairly  cry." 

So  Eveley  put  her  arms  around  her,  and 
kissed  her,  and  offered  a  few  suggestions 
about  appropriate  food  for  angel  babies, — 
feeling  very  wise  from  her  recent  experience 
with  Nathalie  and  Dan,  and  invited  them  all 
to  go  driving  with  her  on  Saturday  afternoon, 
and  mentally  planned  to  send  them  an  enor- 
mous box  of  candy  in  the  morning  after  their 
arrival,  and  then  said  she  must  hurry  back  to 
work. 

"Oh,  you  poor  thing,"  cried  Eileen  in  con- 
trition. "You  did  not  have  any  luncheon  at  all, 
did  you?  Wait  until  I  fix  a  sandwich  and 
you  can  slip  into  the  dressing-room  and  eat  it. 
It  will  only  take  a  minute.  You  may  have 
some  of  these  animal  cookies  too, — I  got  a 

I 


232  EVE  TO   THE   RESCUE 

dollar's  worth, — ^I  knew  the  babies  would  love 
them.  Now,  Eveley,  won't  you  come  to  din- 
ner to-morrow  night  and  meet  my  little 
blesseds?  The  train  comes  at  six-ten,  and 
Mrs.  Allis,  I  mean,  Aunt  Martha, — we  have 
decided  to  call  her  Aunt  Martha, — will  have 
dinner  all  ready  for  us." 

"Certainly  I'll  come,"  said  Eveley  promptly. 
"I  shall  love  it.  And  I'll  come  for  you  in  the 
car  and  take  you  to  the  station." 

After  work  that  night,  Eveley  went  into 
the  ten-cent  store,  and  bought  a  startling 
array  of  drums  and  horns  and  small  shovels, 
and  sent  them  out  to  Eileen's  for  the  babies. 
And  that  night  she  insisted  that  Nolan  must 
come  to  dinner  with  her  to  hear  the  great 
good  news. 

**It  is  just  because  she  wants  to  do  it,"  she 
said  happily.  "That  is  why  she  is  so  full  of 
joy.  It  is  plain  selfishness, — she  has  no 
thought  of  doing  her  Christian  duty  nor  any 
such  nonsense.  And — ^well,  you  V7ould  hardly 
know  Eileen.  Her  eyes  are  like  stars,  and  her 
voice  runs  up  and  down  stairs  in  beautiful 
trills,  and  she  forgot  to  wear  her  hair  net." 


SERVICE  OF  JOY  233 

'Wait  till  Billy  gets  jam  on  her  lace  bed- 
spread, and  Betty  cuts  up  her  new  bonnet  to 
get  the  pretty  flowers,  and  wait  till  they  both 
get  mad  and  yowl  at  once, — she'll  be  lucky  if 
she  remembers  her  Christian  duty  then." 

"Isn't  he  crabbish,  Marie?"  asked  Eveley 
plaintively.  "He  doesn't  like  to  see  people 
happy  and  thrilled  and  throbbing." 

"Oh,  yes,  I  do.  I  am  thrilled  and  happy  and 
throbbing  myself  right  now.  There  is  some- 
thing about  this  Cote  in  the  Clouds  that — " 

"And  dear  Eileen  has  lived  alone  so  long, 
poor  thing." 

"I  can  sympathize  with  her  all  right.  I 
have,  too." 

"And  now  she  will  have  a  home,  a  real 
home — " 

"My  own  dream  for  years." 

"Sweet  companionship — " 

"Heaven  on  earth,  Eveley,  heaven  on 
earth." 

"Something  to  live  for — " 

"Alas,  how  I  envy  her." 

"Nolan,  if  you  do  not  keep  still  and  pay  at- 
tention, I  shall  stop  talking  and  let  you  pro- 


234  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

pose, — right  before  Marie, — and  then  where 
will  you  be?" 

"Married,  I  hope." 

So  Eveley  decided  there  was  no  use  to  try 
to  talk  sense  with  Nolan,  but  she  arranged 
to  call  for  him  at  eight  o'clock  the  next  morn- 
ing to  take  him  to  Eileen's  and  show  him  the 
blue  Red-Riding-Hoods  and  the  toys. 

As  she  left  the  house  to  keep  her  engage- 
ment with  Nolan,  she  was  surprised  to  see 
Mrs.  Severs  starting  out,  for  Mrs.  Severs  was 
not  used  to  being  out  so  early. 

*'Why,  little  Bride,  whither  away?"  laugh- 
ed Eveley. 

Mrs.  Severs  flushed.  *T  am  going  to  spend 
the  day  with  father,"  she  admitted,  rather 
shyly.  "It  is  sort  of  lonesome  here  alone  all 
the  time, — and  we  have  lots  of  fun  in  the 
little  cottage  on  the  hill.  And  sometimes  we 
go  out  on  the  beach  and  lie  on  the  sand, — he 
takes  me  in  his  jitney.  He  thinks  I  need  more 
sunshine  and  fresh  air." 

"He  is  great,  isn't  he?"  said  Eveley 
warmly. 

'*He  is  dear,"  cried  Mrs.  Severs,  the  quick 


SERVICE  OF  JOY  235 

color  surging  her  face.  "I  am  not  very  well, 
and  he  is  so  gentle  and  sweet  to  me.  I — wish 
I  had  been  more  patient, — I  am  very  lonely 
now.  But  we  are  great  chums.  He  has  taught 
me  to  play  pinochle,  and  I  fill  his  pipe  for  him. 
And  onions  aren't  so  bad." 

"Hum,"  thought  Eveley,  as  she  drove 
down-town.  *Tou  can't  suit  some  people,  no 
matter  how  finely  you  adjust  their  diffi- 
culties." Then  she  brightened.  ''Still,  it  is 
better  to  love  each  other  in  two  houses,  than 
to  be  bad  friends  in  one, — as  they  were." 

That  evening,  she  and  Eileen  stood  at  the 
station  impatiently  waiting, — having  aiTived 
at  five-thirty,  fearing  the  train  might  come 
ahead  of  time. 

"Oh,  Eveley,"  Eileen  wailed.  "Suppose  they 
should  not  like  me?" 

Eveley  laughed  at  that.  "Suppose  you  do 
not  like  them?"  she  parried. 

"I  do.  I  haven't  seen  them  for  over 
two  years,  but  they  are  adorable.  They  are 
seven  now.  The  prettiest  things, — long  yel- 
low curls,  and — " 


236  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"Billy  will  probably  be  shaved  by  this  time, 
— ^I  mean  barbered." 

"Oh,  never.  No  one  would  cut  oft  curls  like 
his.  Their  hair  will  be  longer  I  suppose,  prob- 
ably darker, — and  Betty  lisps  and  swallows 
while  she  is  talking, — " 

*'0h,  she  will  be  over  that  now." 

"In  two  years  ?  Why,  certainly  not.  They 
will  be  just  the  same,  only  more  so." 

Eveley  began  to  experience  a  curious  in- 
ternal sinking.  Eileen  was  too  deliriously  op- 
timistic about  those  children.  They  were 
angel  babies,  of  course,  for  Eileen  said  so,  but 
Eveley  remembered  Nathalie  and  Dan, 
angels,  too, — ^but  how  they  shouted  and  tore 
through  the  house.  And  they  v/ere  always 
exhibiting  fresh  cuts  and  bruises,  and  Dan 
had  insisted  on  the  confiscation  of  his  curls 
at  four  years.  If  Billy  was  still  wearing  curls 
at  seven,  he  needed  a  tonic  for  he  was  not 
regular. 

"Eileen,"  she  began  very  gently,  '*you — 
you  mustn't  expect  too  many  dimples  and 
curls.    Children  are  angels, — ^but  they  are 


SERVICE  OF  JOY  237 

funny,  too.  They  are  always  bleeding,  you 
know,  and — " 

"Bleeding!"  gasped  Eileen.  "Agnes  never 
mentioned  bleeding !    Do  they  always  do  it  T* 

"Always.  They  are  always  getting  them- 
selves smashed  and  scratched,  and  blood  runs 
all  over  them,  and  gets  matted  in  their  hair, 
and  their  hands  are  constitutionally  dirty, 
and — they  always  have  at  least  one  finger 
totally  and  irrevocably  smashed.  Some  times 
it  is  tw^o  fingers,  and  once  in  a  while  a  whole 
hand,  but  the  average  is  one  finger." 

Eileen  looked  at  her  friend  in  a  most  pro- 
fessional mianner. 

"I  do  not  know  if  you  are  trying  to  be  in- 
sulting, or  just  amusing,  but  I  saw  those 
children.  I  was  right  there  for  three  weeks 
only  two  years  ago,  and  they  were  always 
clean,  they  had  curls,  and  they  w^ere  certainly 
not  smashed  or  I  should  have  noticed  it." 

"They  shout,  too,  Eileen,"  Eveley  went  on 
wretchedly,  determined  to  prepare  Eileen  for 
the  shock  that  was  sure  to  follow.  "They — 
they  just  whoop.  And — " 


238  EVE    TO    THE  RESCUE 

"If  you  can  not  be  a  little  pleasanter,  dear, 
suppose  you  go  and  wait  for  me  in  the  car.  I 
am  too  nervous.  I  simply  can  not  stand  it." 

"I  do  not  want  to  be  unpleasant,  and  I  shall 
not  say  another  word.  I  just  wanted  to  re- 
mind you  of — of  the  shouting — and  the 
blood." 

"One  would  think  they  were  savages,  Eve- 
ley,  instead  of  my  own  sister's  little  babies." 

"Here  comes  the  train,"  cried  Eveley,  and 
added  in  a  soft  whisper  that  Eileen  could  not 
hear,  "Oh,  please,  for  Eileen's  sake,  let  'em 
have  dimples  and  curls,  and  don't  get  'em 
smashed  before  the  train  stops." 

Hand  in  hand,  with  eager  shining  eyes,  the 
girls  ran  along  the  platform,  and  when  the 
porter  put  down  his  stool  ^beneath  the  steps, 
the  first  thing  that  appeared  was  a  small 
dimpled  girl  v/ith  golden  curls,  and  a  flower- 
like face  beneath  a  flower-laden  bonnet. 

Eileen  leaped  upon  her,  catching  her  in  her 
arms,  and  in  her  rapturous  delight,  she  did 
not  hear  a  small  brusk  voice  exclaiming,  "Oh, 
pooh,  I  don't  need  your  old  stool." 

And  she  did  not  notice  Eveley' s  gasp, — for 


SERVICE  OF  JOY  239 

Eveley  had  seen  a  small  sailor-clad  form 
hurtle  itself  from  the  step  and  fall  flat  upon 
the  gravel  platform.  It  was  not  until  a  sud- 
den lusty  roar  went  up  that  Eileen  remem- 
bered she  had  two  babies  en  route.  She 
dropped  Betty  like  a  flash,  and  turned. 

The  porter  very  grimly  picked  up  the 
child,  and  held  him  out,  and  Eileen  saw  with 
horror  thaf  his  face  was  fairly  sandpapered 
from  the  fall,  and  blood  was  starting  from  a 
dozen  tiny  pricks. 

"If  this  is  yourn,  for  Gawd's  sake,  take 
Im,"  begged  the  porter.  *'He's  fell  off'n 
everjrthing  and  into  everything  between  here 
and  Seattle." 

Eileen  clung  desperately  to  Betty's  moist 
hand. 

''Don't  get  scared,  Auntie,"  chirped  the 
small  bright  voice.  "Billy  always  falls  into 
things,  and  he  ain't  never  broke  anything 
yet, — himself,  I  mean,  arms  or  legs  or  necks, 
— he  breaks  lots  of  dishes  and  vases  and 
things  like  that." 

Eileen  was  stricken  dumb,  but  Eveley  took 
the  writhing  roaring  boy  from  the  porter's 


240  EVE  TO   THE   RESCUE 

hand,  and  dusted  him  hghtly  with  her  hand- 
kerchief. 

"Why,  where  are  your  curls,  Billy?"  she 
demanded,  hoping  to  distract  his  attention. 
And  she  succeeded  only  too  well,  for  he 
stopped  so  suddenly  in  the  midst  of  a  loud 
wail  that  he  almost  choked.  When  he  finally 
recovered  his  breath,  he  snorted  derisively. 

**Curls!  Huh!  I  ain't  no  girl.  I  ain't  got 
any  curls.  I  never  did  have  curls." 

"Oh,  yes,  you  did,"  she  argued.  "Two  years 
ago  you  had  beautiful,  long  golden  curls  just 
like  Betty's." 

Billy  hunched  up  his  shoulders  and  clench- 
ed a  small  brown  fist. 

"You  got  to  say,  ^Excuse  me  for  them 
words,'  "  he  said  belligerently.  "Ain't  so,  and 
you  got  to  say  it." 

Scenting  battle,  Eveley  hastily  muttered 
the  desired  words,  and  passed  him  over  to 
Eileen. 

Billy  thrust  out  a  sturdy  hand,  but  to 
Eileen's  evident  delight  he  refused  to  be 
kissed. 

"Betty's  got  to  be  whipped.  Aunt  Eileen," 


SERVICE  OF  JOY  241 

he  announced.  "Aunt  Agnes  told  me  to  tell 
you  all  she  did  on  the  train,  and  you  would 
whip  her.  She  stuck  a  pin  in  a  fat  man  that 
was  asleep, — that's  the  man  right  there, — 
Say,  didn't  Betty  stick  a  pin  in  you  ?" 

But  the  fat  man  gave  them  a  venomous 
glare,  and  hurried  away.  "And  she  pulled  the 
beads  off  of  that  blonde  lady's  coat, — and  if 
you  don't  believe  it,  you  can  look  in  her 
pocket  'cause  she's  got  'em  yet.  And  she 
swiped  a  box  of  candy  from  that  lady  in  the 
yellow  suit,  and  the  lady  said  the  porter  did 
it,  and  they  had  an  awful  fight.  And  she  sang 
The  Yanks  Are  Coming  in  the  middle  of  the 
night  and  everybody  swore  something  awful. 
And  she  wouldn't  eat  anything  but  ice-cream 
at  the  table,  and  one  meal  she  had  five 
dishes." 

Eveley  and  Eileen  had  listened  in  fasci- 
nated silence  during  this  recital  of  his  sister's 
wrongdoing.  But  Betty  stuck  a  fat  thumb 
between  rosy  lips,  and  drooped  her  eyes  de- 
murely behind  her  curling  lashes. 

"Did— you  do  all  that,  Betty?"  demanded 
Eileen  at  last,  very  faintly. 


242  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

*'l  did  more  than  that/'  she  said  proudly. 
"I  put  the  pink  lady's  bedroom  slippers  in  a 
man's  traveling  bag,  and  they  haven't  found 
it  out  yet.  And  I  slipped  Billy's  wriggly  liz- 
ard down  the  black  lady's  neck,  and  she  said 
a  naughty  word.  And — " 

"And  what  did  Billy  do?" 

Betty's  lips  curled  with  scorn.  "Billy?  He 
didn't  do  anything.  He's  too  good.  He  don't 
ever  do  anything." 

Billy  advanced  with  the  threatening  hunch 
of  his  shoulders  and  clench  of  the  brown  fists. 

"You  say,  'Excuse  me  for  them  words,'  "  he 
said  in  a  low  voice.    "And  say  it  quick." 

Betty  jerked  her  finger  from  her  mouth 
and  mumbled  rapidly  in  a  voice  of  frightened 
nervousness,  "Excuse  me  for  them  words, 
please  excuse  me  for  them  words."  And  then, 
as  her  brother's  shoulders  relaxed,  she  sidled 
up  to  him,  rubbing  herself  affectionately 
against  his  arm,  and  whispered,  "Aw,  Billy, 
I  was  only  joking.  You  ain't  mad  at  me,  are 
you?" 

"Let's  go,"  said  Eileen.  "I  feel— faint." 

"Sticking  pins  is  good  for  faintness,"  said 


SERVICE  OF  JOY  243 

Betty  hopefully.  *'I  did  it  to  Aunt  Agnes 
twice  when  she  nearly  fainted,  and  she  came 
to  right  away/' 

"And  she  gave  Betty  a  good  whipping." 

"Yes,  she  did,  and  I  only  did  it  to  cure  her," 
said  Betty  in  an  aggrieved  voice. 

"Let's  go  fast,"  begged  Eileen.  "Take  your 
handkerchief,  Billy,  and  see  if  you  can  wipe 
a  little  of  the  dirt  and  blood  off  your  face." 

"He  mustn't  do  that,"  interrupted  Betty 
promptly.  "Handkerchiefs  is  full  of  germs, 
and  if  he  gets  the  germs  in  his  scratches  he 
gets  blood  poison  and  dies.  You  got  to  wait 
till  you  get  home,  Billy,  and  then  lie  on  your 
back  on  Aunt  Eileen's  bed,  and  she'll  take 
clean  gauze  and  soak  'em  off  in  cold  water. 
If  you  haven't  got  any  gauze  handy  you  can 
use  mine,  but  you'd  better  buy  some.  Billy 
uses  as  much  as  a  dollar's  worth  of  gauze  in 
no  time." 

Eileen  put  her  hand  over  her  face,  and 
turned  away.  The  children  followed,  looking 
about  them  in  frank  interest  and  pleasure. 

"Is  that  a  palm  tree?"  asked  Betty.  "Billy 
says  God  never  made  'em  grow  like  that.  He 


244  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

says  men  just  tie  those  fins  on  top  to  make 
'em  look  funny.  Did  God  do  it,  Aunt  Eileen  ? 
What  did  He  do  it  for? — Oh,  is  this  your 
car.  Aunt  Eileen?  Billy  knows  how  to  start 
a  car  so  you  better  not  let  him  in  it  by  him- 
self." Then  as  the  small  boyish  shoulders  as- 
sumed the  dreadful  hunch,  she  cried  excited- 
ly, "Oh,  no,  he  can't  either,  honest  he  can't. 
He  doesn't  know  what  to  turn,  nor  anything. 
I  was  joking.  You  ain't  mad  at  me,  are  you, 
Billy?" 

Eveley  slipped  silently  into  her  place  be- 
hind the  wheel,  and  Billy  opened  the  door  for 
his  aunt  and  sister,  banged  it  smartly  after 
their  entrance,  and  climbed  in  front  with 
Eveley. 

"They  oughtn't  to  let  women  drive  cars," 
he  said  in  a  judicial  tone.  "Women  is  too 
nervous.  There  ought  to  be  a  law  against  it." 

Eveley  laughed.  "I  think  so,  too,"  she 
agreed  pleasantly.  "But  until  there  is  such  a 
law,  I  think  I  shall  keep  on  driving." 

Billy  stared  at  her  suspiciously.  "You  don't 
need  to  agree  with  me  to  be  polite,"  he  said. 


SEEVICE  OF  JOY  245 

"It  won't  hurt  my  feelings  any.  I  ain't  used 
to  it,  anyhow." 

Betty,  in  the  rear  seat,  cuddled  cozily 
against  her  rigid  aunt  and  kept  up  a  constant 
flow  of  conversation  in  her  pretty  chirpy 
voice. 

"Are  you  an  old  maid?  Aunt  Agnes  said 
you  were.  Did  you  do  it  on  purpose,  or 
couldn't  you  help  yourself?  I  am  not  going 
to  be  an  old  maid.  I  am  engaged  now.  Billy 
tried  to  be  engaged,  too,  but  Freckle  Harvey 
cut  him  out." 

Billy  suddenly  squared  about  in  his  seat, 
and  Betty  shivered  into  a  small  and  terrified 
heap.  *Aw,  no,  he  didn't  either.  Billy  didn't 
like  her  worth  a  cent.  He  thinks  she  is  just 
hideous,  don't  you,  Billy?  You  ain't  mad  at 
me,  are  you,  Billy?" 

When  Eveley  drew  the  car  up  before  the 
big  apartment-house  on  Sixth  Street,  Billy 
forgot  his  temporary  burst  of  manners.  With 
a  hoarse  shout  he  slid  deftly  over  the  door 
and  dashed  up  the  steps.  Shrieking  gleefully, 
Betty  followed  swiftly  in  his  wake. 


246  EVE   TO  THE   RESCUE 

"Oh,  Eveley,"  faltered  Eileen,  "I  am  afraid 
they  scratched  the  car."  She  got  out  hastily, 
and  caught  her  lips  between  her  teeth  as  she 
saw  the  long  jagged  scratch  on  the  door 
where  Betty's  sharp  heel  had  passed. 

"Never  mind,"  said  Eveley  bravely.  "It 
doesn't  make  a  bit  of  difference.  We  all  know 
how  children  are." 

''I^I  didn't,"  said  Eileen  weakly.  "I— 
guess  I  am  an  old  maid.  I  hadn't  realized  it." 

In  Betty's  extravagant  delight  over  the 
new  room,  and  Billy's  quiet  but  equally  sin- 
cere pleasure,  something  of  Eileen's  ov/n  en- 
thusiasm returned,  and  although  her  minis- 
trations upon  Billy's  marred  countenance, 
performed  under  the  critical  and  painstaking 
eye  of  Sister  Betty,  left  her  weak-kneed  and 
pale,  she  took  her  place  at  the  table  with 
something  very  much  akin  to  pleasure,  if  it 
were  not  the  jubilant  delight  she  had  antici- 
pated. 

Eveley  went  home  immediately  after  din- 
ner, stopping  on  her  way  for  Nolan.  They 
spent  an  uproarious  hour  over  her  account  of 
the  twins  and  their  reception.   And  at  last. 


SERVICE  OF  JOY  247 

weak  with  laughter,  Eveley  wiped  her  eyes, 
and  said  with  deep  sympathy: 

"Poor  Eileen !  And  the  twins  are  adorable. 
But  I  believe  one  needs  to  be  bom  with  chil- 
dren and  grow  up  with  them  gradually.  For 
when  they  spring  upon  you  full  grown  they 
are — ^well,  they  are  certainly  a  shock." 


CHAPTER  XVI 
MARIE  ENCOUNTERS  THE  SECRET  SERVICE 

IN  THE  beginning  Eveley  had  hesitated  to 
leave  her  newly  adopted  sister  alone  in  the 
Cloud  Cote  in  the  evening,  but  as  Marie 
seemed  absolutely  to  know  no  fear,  and  as 
time  did  not  hang  at  all  heavily  upon  her 
hands,  Eveley  was  soon  running  about  among 
her  friends  as  she  had  always  done.  But  with 
this  change:  there  was  always  a  light  in  the 
window  at  the  top  of  the  rustic  stairs  when 
she  came  home,  and  a  warm  and  tender  wel- 
come awaiting  her. 

Marie  had  come  to  be  charmingly  useful 
in  the  Cloud  Cote.  She  prepared  breakfast 
while  Eveley  dressed,  and  did  the  light  bit  of 
housework  nicely  and  without  effort.  Eveley 
usually  had  her  luncheon  down-town,  but  in 
the  evening  dinner  was  well  started  before 
she  reached  home.  Her  mending  was  always 
exquisitely  done,  even  before  she  knew  that 
mending  was  necessary,  and  among  her 
248 


THE  SECRET  SERVICE  249 

lingerie  she  often  came  upon  fine  bits  of  lace 
she  had  not  seen  before. 

After  long  and  loving  persuasion,  Marie 
had  consented  to  meet  Eveley's  sister  and 
brother-in-law,  and  Eveley  had  them  in  for 
dinner.  Marie  was  quiet  that  night,  scarcely 
speaking  except  now  and  then  to  the  babies. 
The  next  week,  however,  when  Winifred 
asked  both  girls  to  dinner,  Marie  went  with- 
out argument,  and  seemed  to  take  a  great 
deal  of  quiet  satisfaction  in  the  visit. 

Kitty  and  Eileen  she  met  often  in  the  Cloud 
Cote,  but  always  withdrew  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible to  her  own  room  to  leave  Eveley  alone 
with  her  friends.  With  Nolan,  Eveley  openly 
insisted  that  Marie  should  develop  a  friend- 
ship. 

"Why,  he  will  very  likely  be  my  husband 
one  of  these  days,  when  he  gets  around  to  it," 
she  explained  frankly. 

"Your  husband,"  echoed  Marie.  "I  thought 
Mr.  Hiltze— " 

"Oh,  no,"  denied  Eveley,  flushing  a  little. 
"He  is  just  a  pleasant  in-between-whiles.  We 
are  fellow-Americanizers,  that  is  all." 


250  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

"Does  Mr.  Hiltze  know  that?"  queried 
Marie. 

"Oh,  everybody  knows  that  I  belong  to 
Nolan  when  the  time  comes,"  said  Eveley, 
laughing. 

Nolan,  urgently  warned  by  Eveley,  met 
Marie  with  friendly  ease  and  asked  no  ques- 
tions. He  took  her  hand  cordially  and  said 
in  his  pleasant  voice.  "Well,  if  you  are  Eve- 
ley's  sister,  I  have  a  half-way  claim  upon  you 
myself,  and  you  must  count  me  in."  And  then 
he  promptly  began  mashing  potatoes  for 
their  dinner,  and  Marie  did  not  mind  him  at 
all. 

When  Amos  Hiltze  came  to  the  Cloud  Cote 
she  joined  serenely  with  them,  very  easy  and 
comfortable,  alv/ays  careful  to  go  to  her  room 
before  he  left,  that  he  might  have  a  little 
while  alone  with  Eveley.  For  she  saw  plainly 
that  while  he  interested  Eveley  only  in  his 
enthusiasm  for  Americanization,  for  him 
Eveley  had  a  deeper  and  sweeter  charm. 

One  Saturday  afternoon  when  Nolan  was 
busy,  the  two  girls  went  out  for  a  picnic  on 
the  beach,  a  well-filled  basket  in  the  car  for 


THE  SECRET  SERVICE  251 

their  dinner.   On  a  sudden  impulse,  Eveley 
turned  to  Marie  and  cried: 

"Oh,  little  sister,  how  would  you  like  to 
learn  to  drive?  Then  you  can  take  me  to 
the  office  and  have  the  car  yourself  to  play 
with  while  I  am  busy." 

*'Eveley,"  came  the  ecstatic  gasp,  "would 
you — ^let  me  ?" 

"Would  I  let  you?"  laughed  Eveley. 
"Should  you  like  it?  Why,  you  have  been 
wanting  to,  haven't  you  ?  Why  didn't  you  ask 
me,  Marie?" 

"Oh,  I  couldn't." 

"Yes,  you  should  have,"  said  Eveley  grave- 
ly. "I  would  have  told  you  honestly  if  I  did 
not  wish  it.  I  said  you  must  feel  free  to  ask 
me  for  anything,  didn't  I.  And  don't  I  always 
mean  what  I  say — to  you,  at  least?" 

"Does  your  love  for  Americanization  carry 
you  so  far?"  asked  Marie  curiously. 

Eveley  was  silent  a  moment.  "I  can  not 
exactly  count  you  Americanization,"  she  said 
honestly.  "I  do  not  beheve  Americanizing  you 
could  add  anything  to  your  sweetness,  any- 
how. You  are  just  fun,and —  You  may  not 


252  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

believe  it,  Marie,"  she  added  rather  shyly, 
for  she  was  not  a  demonstrative  girl,  ''but  I — 
really  I  love  you." 

Quick  tears  leaped  to  Marie's  dark  eyes, 
and  she  placed  her  head  softly  against  Eve- 
ley's  shoulder,  though  she  did  not  speak.  Al- 
most instantly  Eveley  brushed  away  the 
wave  of  sentiment  and  gave  her  quick  bright 
laugh. 

'^Now  listen,  sweetness,"  she  said.  "It  is 
like  this.  This  is  the  clutch  that  controls  the 
gears.  When  it  wabbles  like  this  it  is  in 
neutral  and  the  car  will  not  run.  When  you 
shove  down  with  your  left  foot,  and  pull  the 
clutch  to  the  left  and  backward,  it  is  in  low 
gear,  and  the  car  v/ill  go  forward  when  you 
let  your  foot  back.  You  must  do  it  very 
slowly,  so  there  will  be  no  pull  nor  jerk. 
Like  this." 

So  the  afternoon  wore  away,  the  two  girls 
laughing  gaily  as  Marie  made  her  first 
bungling  attempts  to  drive;  but  later,  Marie 
was  aglow  with  exultation  and  Eveley  with 
deep  pride,  because  the  little  foreigner 
showed  real  aptitude  for  handling  the  car. 


THE  SECRET  SERVICE  253 

Then  in  a  lovely  quiet  part  of  the  beach  a 
little  beyond  La  Jolla,  they  had  an  early  sup- 
per and  drove  home,  Eveley  at  the  wheel, 
singing  love  songs,  Marie  humming  softly 
with  her. 

"This  is  almost  like  sweethearting,  isn't 
it?"  asked  Eveley  turning  to  look  into  the 
dark  eyes  fixed  adoringly  upon  her.  "Next  to 
Nolan  you  satisfy  me  more  than  anything 
else  in  the  world.  But  don't  tell  Nolan.  He 
is  jealous  of  you, — he  thinks  I  like  you  better 
than  I  do  him." 

"You  say  you  love  me,  Eveley.  But  do  you  ? 
Is  it  the  kind  of  love  that  can  understand  and 
sympathize  and  forgive — yes,  and  keep  on 
loving  even  when — things  are  wrong?" 

"Nothing  could  change  my  feeling  for  you, 
Marie,"  said  Eveley  positively. 

"But  if  things  were  wrong?"  came  the  in- 
sistent query. 

"Well,  I  am  no  angel  myself,"  answered 
Eveley,  laughing  again.  "If  you  are  a 
naughty  girl,  I  shall  say,  1  will  forgive  you 
if  you  will  forgive  me,'  and  there  you  are." 
She  stopped  again,  to  laugh.   "But  I  can't 


254  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

think  of  any  wrong  you  could  do,  Marie.  You 
just  naturally  do  not  associate  with,  wrong 
things." 

**And  you  will  always  remember,  won't  you, 
what  you  have  said  about  love  of  one's  coun- 
try ?  That  it  excuses  and  glorifies  everything 
in  the  world?" 

But  Eveley  was  singing  again. 

Eveley  had  made  an  arrangement  to  call 
for  Nolan  at  the  office  at  eight,  as  they  were 
going  to  Kitty's  for  a  late  supper  with  her 
and  Arnold  Bender,  so  she  kissed  Marie  good 
night  when  they  reached  home,  and  said : 
.  "Will  you  be  lonesome  without  your  big 
sister,  and  boss  ?" 

"I  think  I  shall  go  down  and  watch  the 
dark  shadows  in  your  beautiful  canyon,"  said 
Marie,  clinging  to  Eveley's  hand,  and  looking 
deeply  into  her  eyes. 

"Aren't  you  afraid  down  there  at  night?" 
wondered  Eveley.  "I  have  lived  on  top  of  the 
canyon  all  my  life,  and  we  played  hide-and- 
seek  there  when  we  were  children,  and  I  love 
it, — and  yet  when  night  comes,  I  do  not  even 
go  so  far  as  the  rose  pergola  unless  Nolan  is 


THE  SECRET  SERVICE  255 

there  to  hold  my  hand  and  shoo  away  the 
ghosts  and  things." 

"That  is  our  difference.  You  are  afraid  of 
the  world  and  the  night,  I  am  afraid  only  of 
men  and  women.  I  have  lived  alone,  and  have 
had  wide  dark  gardens  to  wander  in.  They 
have  never  harmed  me.  Only  men  have 
injured  me,  and  my  family.  So  I  love  to  slip 
down  into  the  soft  fragrant  darkness  of  the 
canyon  and  sit  on  the  big  stones  or  on  the 
velvet  grass,  and  see  my  future  in  the 
shadows." 

"But  do  not  stay  long.  The  whole  canyon 
is  yours  to  dream  in,  if  it  makes  you  happy. 
But  wear  a  heavy  wrap  and  do  not  get 
chilled." 

Then  with  a  hasty  kiss  she  ran  down  the 
steps  to  the  car. 

Eveley  was  tired  that  night.  The  first  les- 
son in  driving,  the  lazy  supper  on  the  beach, 
and  the  long  ride,  left  her  listless  and  indo- 
lent. So  after  their  merry  dinner,  and  a  dance 
or  two  around  the  Victrola,  she  said  she  had 
a  headache  and  wanted  to  go  home. 

They  drove  very  slowly  along  the  winding 


256  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

road,  and  were  quietly  content.  Nolan  opened 
the  doors  of  the  garage  and  Eveley  ran  the 
car  into  place;  then,  as  she  was  really  tired, 
at  the  foot  of  the  rustic  stairs  he  said  good 
night,  while  she  crept  slowly  up  the  steps. 

For  the  first  time,  there  was  no  Marie  to 
welcome  her.  The  room,  though  lighted, 
looked  dreary  and  forlorn  without  the  pretty 
adopted  girl. 

"The  little  goosie,"  said  Eveley,  with  a  ten- 
der smile.  "I  suppose  she  is  still  dreaming 
down  in  that  spooky  canyon.  Maybe  she  has 
fallen  asleep.  I  shall  have  to  go  after  her." 

She  took  a  small  flash-light,  and  hurried 
down  the  rustic  stairs  and  the  well-known 
path  beyond  the  rose  pergola,  where  she 
hoped  to  find  Marie. 

But  Marie  was  not  there. 

Eveley  knew  every  foot  of  the  canyon  by 
heart;  she  went  surely  and  without  hesita- 
tion along  the  twisting,  winding,  rocky  path, 
half-way  down  the  narrow  slope. 

"Marie,"  she  called  softly.    "Marie." 

But  there  was  no  answer. 

"Maybe  she  is  behind  the  live  oak  in  the 


THE  SECRET  SERVICE  257 

Rambler's  Retreat,"  she  thought,  and  climbed 
up  the  steep  bank  from  the  path,  clinging  to 
bits  of  shrubbery  and  foliage.  But  Marie  was 
not  there.  And  then  as  Eveley  turned,  she 
heard  quick  running  steps  in  the  pathway 
under  the  swinging  bridge  that  spanned  the 
canyon  lower  down. 

Eveley  sighed  aloud  in  her  relief, — then 
her  breath  caught  in  her  throat, — a  gasp  of 
fear. 

For  sounding  clear  and  distinct  above  the 
light  steps  came  a  pounding  of  heavier  feet. 
Some  one  was  following  Marie  up  the  path, 
— ^no,  there  were  two  for  there  was  another 
pounding  a  little  fainter,  farther  away.  Now 
Eveley  could  hear  the  frightened  intake  of 
Marie's  breath  as  she  ran.  Two  girls  alone 
in  the  dark  canyon. 

Eveley  clung  desperately  to  the  heavy 
shrubbery  among  which  she  was  crouching. 
She  was  about  three  feet  above  the  path  on 
the  steep  bank.  Clinging  for  support  with 
one  hand,  she  reached  noiselessly  about  for  a 
stone,  but  there  was  nothing  upon  which  she 
could  lay  her  hand. 


258  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

Below  the  path,  the  canyon  dropped 
sharply  for  a  long  way,  fifty  or  sixty  feet 
perhaps,  not  a  precipice,  but  with  a  decided 
drop  that  could  only  be  descended  with  care. 
If  IMarie  would  only  lie  down  and  roll,  she 
might  be  able  to  hide  among  the  bushes  at 
the  bottom.  But  Marie  did  not  think  of  that. 
Her  one  idea  was  to  run  faster  and  faster,  in 
the  hope  of  escaping  her  pursuers. 

"Marie,"  whispered  Eveley  sharply  as  the 
girl  came  up  the  path  near  her,  and  Marie, 
hearing  the  faint  sound,  stopped  suddenly  in 
her  tracks,  swaying,  more  frightened  than 
ever. 

"Lie  down,  lie  down,"  urged  Eveley,  but 
Marie  did  not  hear,  and  before  she  could 
gather  her  wits  to  run  on,  a  man  leaped  to- 
ward her,  both  arms  outstretched. 

"I  got  you,"  he  panted. 

Marie,  following  the  terrified  instinct  of 
every  hunted  animal,  swung  her  lithe  body 
and  ducked  beneath  his  arm.  And  at  that 
moment,  Eveley,  tightening  her  hold  upon 
the  branches  of  the  bush,  drew  up  her 
feet,   braced  herself   against   the   bank  for 


'Marie,"  whispered  Eveley  sharply. 


THE  SECRET  SERVICE  259 

a  moment,  and  then  sprang  heavily  against 
the  man  with  both  feet  and  sent  him  reeling 
head-first  down  the  canyon. 

Like  a  flash,  Marie  flattened  herself  against 
the  bank — one  more  dark  shadow  among  the 
others — and  none  too  soon,  for  the  second 
man  was  close  upon  them,  so  close  they  could 
hear  the  heavy  rasp  of  his  breathing.  Eveley 
had  not  time  to  raise  herself  for  another 
spring,  so  she  crouched  against  the  bank  in 
terror,  hoping  in  his  haste  that  he  might  pass 
them  by.  But  as  he  came  near  he  paused 
suddenly,  his  attention  attracted  by  the  sound 
of  tearing  brush,  and  the  incoherent  cries  of 
his  companion  as  he  rolled  down  the  canyon. 
Taking  it  as  an  indication  that  the  chase  was 
in  that  direction,  he  turned  blindly  to  follow, 
and  not  knowing  the  lay  of  the  land,  lost  his 
footing  at  once  and  fell  headlong. 

Eveley  was  upon  her  feet  in  an  instant. 

"Run,  Marie,"  she  whispered,  and  in  less 
than  a  moment  they  were  hurrying  up  the 
path  behind  the  rose  pergola  under  the  mag- 
nolias and  beneath  the  light  from  their  Cloud 
Cote. 


260  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

"Wait,"  whispered  Marie.  "Let's  hide  a 
moment.  They  might  see  us  going  up  the 
stairs.  Wait  beneath  the  roses  until  they  are 
gone." 

Only  faint  sounds  came  up  to  them  as  the 
two  men,  bruised  and  sore,  painfully  picked 
themselves  up  from  the  rocks  and  the  prickly 
shrubs.  Evidently  they  realized  there  was 
no  hope  of  further  pursuit,  for  in  a  short 
while  the  girls  could  hear  the  faint  echo  of 
their  heavy  footsteps  as  they  retraced  their 
"way  down  the  canyon. 

Eveley  held  Marie  in  her  arms  until  the 
last  sound  had  echoed  away,  and  then  silently 
they  climbed  the  stairs,  crossed  the  little  gar- 
den on  the  roof,  and  crawled  through  the 
window  into  the  safety  of  the  Cote. 

"Are  you  hurt,  Marie?"  asked  Eveley,  the 
first  to  break  the  tense  silence  that  fell  upon 
them  when  they  were  conscious  of  shelter 
and  security. 

Marie  shook  her  head.  Then  she  moved 
one  step  toward  Eveley,  and  asked  in  a  plead- 
ing whisper:  "Are  you  angry  with  me?  Do 
you  hate  me  ?" 


THE  SECRET  SERVICE  261 

*'0h,  Marie,  don't  talk  so,"  cried  Eveley, 
nervous  tears  springing  to  her  eyes.  ''How 
could  I  be  angry  with  you?  But  I  was  so 
frightened  and  shocked.  I  did  not  know  how 
very  much  I  loved  you.  You  must  never  go 
into  the  canyon  again  at  night.  Never  once, 
— for  one  minute.  Will  you  promise  me?" 

'1  will  promise  whatever  you  wish,  Eveley, 
you  know." 

Eveley  smiled  at  her  weakly,  and  turning 
to  take  off  her  wraps  saw  with  surprise  that 
the  sleeves  w^ere  torn  almost  from  her  coat. 

"I  must  have  come  down  with  quite  a 
bang,"  she  said  faintly,  suddenly  aware  that 
her  shoulders  were  quivering  with  pain. 

With  a  little  cry  of  pity,  Marie  ran  to  her, 
and  tenderly  helped  to  remove  her  blouse. 
The  tears  ran  down  her  face  when  she  saw 
the  red  and  swollen  shoulders  beneath. 

"Oh,  my  poor  angel,"  she  mourned.  "All 
bruised  and  sore  like  that.  For  me.  You 
never  should  have  done  it." 

Very  sweetly  she  bathed  the  shoulders, 
and  when  Eveley  crept  painfully  into  bed,  she 
arranged  soft  compresses  of  cotton  and  oil 


262  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

for  her  to  lie  upon.  And  she  asked,  shyly,  if 
she  might  sit  by  the  bed. 

"Until  you  fall  asleep,"  she  pleaded.  "I  can 
not  leave  you  like  this,  when  you  are  in  such 
pain, — for  me." 

"Come  and  sleep  with  me,  then,"  said  Eve- 
ley.  *T  do  not  want  to  let  you  go  off  alone, 
either,  when — something  so  terrible  might 
have  happened  to  you." 

Eagerly  and  with  great  joy  Marie  availed 
herself  of  the  privilege,  and  slipped  into  her 
place  beside  Eveley. 

"If  you  suffer  in  the  night,  please  ask  me 
to  help  you,"  she  begged.  "I  will  not  sleep, 
but  I  do  not  wish  to  speak  until  I  know  you 
are  av/ake." 

"You  must  sleep,"  said  Eveley. 

But  Marie  did  not  sleep.  Sometimes  Eve- 
ley would  moan  a  little,  turning  heavily,  and 
then,  without  a  sound,  Marie  was  out  of  bed, 
replacing  the  bandages  with  fresh  ones, 
crooning  softly  over  Eveley  as  a  mother  over 
a  suffering  child. 

Fortunately  the  next  day  was  Sunday,  and 
Eveley  remained  quietly  on  a  couch,  with 


THE  SECRET  SERVICE  263 

Marie  waiting  upon  her  like  a  tender  Ma- 
donna. Nolan  came  up,  too,  and  insisted  upon 
the  full  story  of  what  had  happened. 

"I  fell,"  said  Eveley  positively. 

"You  did  not  fall  on  your  shoulder-blades," 
he  said.  "You  girls  have  been  up  to  some 
monkey  business,  and  I  want  to  know." 

After  long  insistence,  Eveley  told  him  of 
the  night's  adventure,  Marie  sitting  erect  and 
rigid  during  the  recital. 

"Where  did  you  go,  Marie?"  he  asked,  in 
deep  concern. 

"I  went  too  far,"  she  confessed  regretfully. 
"But  it  was  an  exquisite  night,  and  I  was 
happy.  I  went  down  farther  and  farther,  and 
did  not  realize  it.  Suddenly  I  looked  up,  and 
knew  I  was  far,  far  down.  I  turned  at  once. 
— Then  some  one  called.  A  man's  voice.  I 
ran,  and  the  steps  came  pounding  after  me." 

"You  must  not  go  into  the  canyon  at  night 
again,  please,  Marie.  You  are  too  young. 
And — the  canyon  goes  away  down  to  the 
water-front  where  there  are  a  lot  of  Greasers 
and — I  mean,  half-breeds,"  he  stammered 
quickly,  "all  kinds  of  foreigners  along  the 


264  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

road  down  there!   You  must  stay  on  top  of 
your  canyon  and  be  good." 

The  next  morning,  although  Eveley  knew 
her  arms  were  too  stiff  and  sore  for  work, 
she  decided  to  go  to  the  office  anyhow  to  see 
the  day  well  started. 

"They  will  send  me  home,  and  I  shall  be 
here  for  luncheon  with  you.  I  can  not  drive 
yet,  so  I'll  just  cross  the  bridge  and  go  on  the 
street-car." 

As  she  stood  on  the  swinging  bridge,  look- 
ing down  into  the  lovely  canyon,  it  seemed 
impossible  that  there  in  the  friendly  shadows 
such  horrible  dangers  had  menaced  them.  Of 
a  sudden  impulse,  she  ran  back,  and  climbed 
carefully  down  to  where  she  had  clung  so 
grimly  to  the  tangled  vines  and  had  knocked 
Marie's  assailant  from  the  path. 

No,  it  was  no  dream.  The  vines  were  torn 
and  mangled  and  on  the  path  were  the  marks 
of  trampling  feet,  and  peering  down  the  can- 
yon she  could  discern  two  distinct  trails 
where  the  men  had  tumbled  and  reeled.  She 
slowly  followed  the  trails,  picking  her  way 
carefully,  clinging  to  bits  of  shrub.  Her  lips 


THE  SECRET  SERVICE  265 

curved  into  a  grim  smile  as  she  pictured  their 
surprise  and  pain.  At  the  foot  of  the  canyon 
she  saw  something  shining  among  the  rocks. 

She  lifted  it  curiously,  and  turned  it  in  her 
hand.  It  was  clean  and  shining, — a  small 
steel  badge  marked  Secret  Service. 

Eveley's  eyes  clouded,  and  her  brows  took 
on  a  troubled  frown,  as  she  put  the  badge 
carefully  into  her  purse. 

"I  shall  never  tell  Marie,"  she  said.  "It 
would  not  help  much  with  the  Americaniza- 
tion of  a  sweet  and  trusting  foreign  girl  to 
know  she  had  been  followed  at  night  by  a 
steel  badge  marked  Secret  Service. 

And  Eveley  followed  the  path  back  to  the 
bridge  again  with  a  grieved  and  troubled  air. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION 

AS  THE  weeks  passed,  Eveley  noticed  a 
change  in  the  conduct  of  the  honey- 
moon home  beneath  her.  Many  times  in  the 
early  morning,  she  saw  Mrs.  Severs  going  out 
with  a  covered  basket  and  wearing  an  old  long 
coat  and  a  tight-fitting  small  hat.  And  some- 
times she  met  her  in  the  evening,  coming 
home,  dusty,  tired  and  happy. 

"I  am  going  to  father's,"  she  would  ex- 
plain lightly.  Or,  "I  have  been  out  with  father 
to-day." 

And  at  the  quizzical  laughter  in  Eveley's 
eyes,  she  w^ould  add  defiantly:  "He  is  a  dar- 
ling, Eveley,  and  I  was  very  silly.  Why  didn't 
you  bring  me  to  my  senses?" 

For  Mrs.  Severs  was  feeling  less  well  than 
usual,  and  in  the  long  absence  of  her  hus- 
band every  day,  she  was  learning  to  depend 
on  the  brusk,  kindly,  capable  father-in-law. 
And  many  days,  when  she  was  not  well 
266 


SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION     267 

enough  to  leave  home,  he  came  himself,  and 
the  girls  up-stairs  could  hear  him  in  the  kit- 
chen below,  preparing  dinner  for  Andy  and 
his  ailing  bride. 

"Whatever  should  I  do  without  him.  Miss 
Ains worth  ?"  she  sometimes  asked.  "He  does 
everything  for  me.  And  I  think  he  likes  me 
pretty  well,  now  he  is  getting  used  to  me. 
He  is  good  to  me, — his  little  funny  ways  are 
not  really  funny  any  more,  but  rather  sweet. 
I  spoiled  everything  with  my  selfishness,  and 
he  will  never  try  to  live  with  us  again." 

One  evening,  when  Father-in-law  had  been 
particularly  tender  and  helpful,  she  looked  at 
Eveley  with  brooding  eyes,  and  said,  *'You 
are  such  a  nice  girl,  but  I  sort  of  blame  you 
because  father  is  not  with  us.  You  are  so 
much  cleverer  than  I, — couldn't  you  have 
opened  my  eyes  before  it  was  too  late?" 

And  Eveley  ran  up  the  stairs  shaking  her 
slender  fists  in  the  air.  "Deliver  me  from 
brides,"  she  said  devoutly  to  the  rose  in  the 
comer  of  her  roof  garden.  "Grooms  are  bad 
enough,  but  brides  are  utterly  impossible.  I 
would  not  live  with  one  for  anything  on  earth. 


268  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

To  think  of  the  wretched  life  they  were  liv- 
ing until  I  helped  them  to  a  proper  adjust- 
ment,— and  now  she  holds  me  responsible.  I 
always  said  Father-in-law  was  the  most  de- 
sirable member  of  the  family." 

But  even  he  disappointed  her. 

"Well,  are  you  getting  enough  freedom?" 
she  asked  him  pleasantly  one  evening  as  she 
met  him  coming  in. 

He  looked  about  cautiously  before  he  an- 
swered. "Excuse  me,  miss,"  he  said  apolo- 
getically, "but  you  are  away  off  on  some 
things.  Freedom  is  all  right,  but  a  little  of  it 
goes  a  long  ways.  Sometimes  folks  like  com- 
pany. She,"  he  said,  Vv^ith  an  explanatory 
wave  of  his  thumb  toward  the  house,  "she  is 
a  pretty  fair  sort.  I've  got  so  danged  sick  of 
having  my  own  way  that.  Holy  Mackinaw, 
I'd  try  living  with  an  orphan  asylum  for  a 
change.  You  see,  I  was  just  getting  used  to 
her,  and  so  I  kind  of  miss  her  cluttering 
around  under  foot." 

Eveley  was  quite  annoyed  at  this  turn  of 
events,  and  her  feeling  of  perturbation  lasted 
fully  half-way  up  the  rustic  stairs.   But  by 


SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION     269 

the  time  she  had  crossed  the  roof  garden  and 
swung  through  the  window  she  was  herself 
again.  She  caught  Marie  about  the  shoulders 
and  danced  her  through  the  room  with  a 
spinning  whirl. 

*'Such  a  lark,"  she  cried.  "The  most  fun  we 
are  going  to  have.  Listen,  sweetest  thing  in 
the  world,  we  are  going  to  have  a  party  to- 
night, you  and  I,  and  Nolan  and  Jimmy  Ames. 
They  are  coming  here,  Jimmy  for  you  of 
course,  for  I  always  get  Nolan  if  he  is  in  the 
party." 

"Oh,  Eveley,"  gasped  Marie,  paling  a  little. 
"I  can't.  I — Mr.  Hiltze  said  I  should  not  meet 
men,  you  know." 

"Well,  he  is  not  the  head  of  our  family. 
And  besides,  he  will  not  know  a  thing  about 
this.  You  will  love  Jimmy  Ames.  I  nearly  do 
myself.  He  is  so  big  and  blond  and  boyish, — 
you  know,  the  slow,  good,  lovey  kind." 

"Hut  he'll  ask—" 

"Don't  worry.  I  know  Jimmy  Ames.  After 
one  look  at  you,  he  will  not  be  able  to  ask 
questions  for  a  month.  Come,  let's  hurry. 
You  must  wear  that  exquisite  little  yellow 


270  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

thing,  and  I'll  wear  black  to  bring  you  out 
nicely." 

"Oh,  Eveley,  you  mustn't — " 

"Well,  Nolan  likes  me  in  black,  anyhow.  He 
says  it  makes  me  look  heavenly,  and  of  course 
one  ought  to  sustain  an  illusion  like  that  if 
possible.  Now  do  not  argue,  Marie.  We  are 
going  to  have  a  perfectly  wonderful  time,  and 
you  will  be  as  happy  as  a  lark." 

For  a  moment  longer  Marie  hesitated, 
frowning  into  space.  Then  she  suddenly 
brightened,  and  a  wistful  eagerness  came  into 
her  eyes. 

"Eveley,  I  am  going  to  do  whatever  you 
tell  me.  If  you  wish  me  to  be  of  your  party, 
I  will.  And  if  you  say,  *Do  not  tell  Mr.  Hiltze,' 
I  shall  never  tell  him.  And  if  you  say,  'Like 
Mr.  Ames,'  I  shall  adore  him." 

"That's  a  nice  girl,"  cried  Eveley,  happily 
whirling  into  her  chair  at  the  table  and  drop- 
ping her  hat  upon  the  floor  at  her  side.  "I 
couldn't  have  planned  anything  nicer  than 
this.  Kitty  and  Arnold  often  have  parties 
with  us,  but  it  will  be  much  better  having 


SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION     271 

you  and  Jimmy.  He  looks  very  smart  in  his 
uniform." 

"Uniform,"  faltered  Marie  suddenly. 

'*Yes, —  Lieutenant  Ames,  you  know, — 
Jimmy  Ames." 

"Lieutenant  ?  Oh,  Eveley,  please,  let's  not. 
I — am  not  fond  of  the  military.  I  am  afraid 
of  soldiers.  Let  me —  Have  some  one  else 
dear,  please.  Get  Kitty  this  time,  won't  you  ? 
I  am  afraid." 

"Wait  till  you  see  Jimmy.  He  isn't  the 
snoopy  overbearing  kind  that  you  are  used 
to.  Can't  you  trust  me  yet,  Marie  ?  I  wouldn't 
have  you  meet  any  one  who  would  be  unpleas- 
ant or  suspicious.  You  have  found  the  rest 
of  my  friends  all  right,  haven't  you  ?" 

"Well,  never  mind,"  Marie  decided  sudden- 
ly. "I  will  come  to  the  party,  but  do  not  ever 
let  Mr.  Hiltze  know,  will  you?  He  would  be 
raging." 

"Marie,  do  you  love  Amos  Hiltze  ?" 

"Love  him!   I  hate  him." 

"Hate  him  ?  Then  why  in  the  world  are  you 
so  afraid  of  him?   You  obey  every  word  he 


272  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

says,  and  follow  every  suggestion  he  makes. 
I  thought  you  were  great  friends." 

Marie  flushed  and  paled  swiftly.  "It  is  be- 
cause I  am  grateful  to  him/'  she  said  at  last, 
not  meeting  Eveley's  eyes.  "He  brought  me 
to  you, — and  he  helps  me, — and  I  am  willing 
to  do  whatever  he  tells  me  except  when  you 
wish  something  else.  But  I  do  not  like  him 
personally  by  any  means,  and  I  wish  he  did 
not  come  here  so  much." 

"I  thought  you  were  friends,"  Eveley  re- 
peated confusedly. 

"He  is  in  love  with  you — don't  you  know 
that?" 

"Yes, — perhaps  so.  But  Angelo  says  men 
can  love  two  women  simultaneously.  Angelo 
says  there  is  something  strange  about  his 
bringing — I  mean,"  she  interrupted  herself 
quickly,  "Angelo  wondered  where  he  found 
you,  or — or  something." 

"Angelo  is  a  good  friend  to  you,  Eveley. 
You  might  pay  better  heed  to  his  sugges- 
tions, to  your  own  good,"  said  Marie  faintly. 

"I  thought, — oh,  I  do  not  know  what  I 
thought.   Well,  we  can  shunt  Mr.  Hiltze  off 


SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION     273 

a  little,  if  you  wish.  But  you  should  not  dis- 
like him.  He  is  greatly  interested  in  you,  and 
so  full  of  enthusiasm  and  eagerness  for  this 
Americanization  idea.  He  has  been  a  great 
help  to  me,  and  he  is  very  clever.  And  since 
he  brought  us  together  we  should  love  him  a 
little.  Any  one  who  struggles  with  American- 
ization deserves  my  patriotic  and  sympa- 
thetic interest,  at  least." 

**Yes,  I  know."  And  she  added  slowly :  "One 
can  show  enthusiasm  for  the  things  one  hates 
worst  in  the  world, — if  there  is  a  secret  rea- 
son." 

''You  do  not  mean  Mr.  Hiltze,  do  you?" 
asked  Eveley,  with  quiet  loyalty. 

*'No,  to  be  sure  not.  I  only  said  one  could." 

"Mr.  Hiltze  is  nothing  to  us.  Toss  him 
away.  Come  now,  let's  doll  up  for  our  party." 

They  were  two  radiantly  lovely  girls  who 
stood  in  the  little  garden  on  the  roof  of  the 
sun  parlor,  waiting  for  the  men  who  ran  up 
the  wavering  rustic  stairs  to  join  them. 

"Oh,  girls,"  cried  Nolan  plaintively,  as  he 
saw  them  in  their  beauty.  "It  is  not  fair  of 
you  to  look  like  this.  Marie,  you  are  exquis- 


274  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

ite.  Eveley,  you  ought  to  be  ashamed  of 
yourself." 

*'Yes,  we  are,"  said  Eveley  pleasantly. 
* 'Jimmy,  I  want  you  to  meet  my  darling  and 
adorable  little  friend,  Marie  Ledesma.  This  is 
Lieutenant  Ames,  Marie." 

Lieutenant  Ames  stood  very  tall  and  slim 
and  straight  as  he  looked  into  Marie's  face. 
Then  he  saw  the  soft  appeal  in  her  eyes. 

'*Be  good  to  me,"  they  seemed  to  beg,  "be 
generous,  and  kind." 

It  was  in  answer  to  this  plea  of  the  limpid 
eyes  that  he  held  out  his  hand  with  sudden 
impulse,  and  said: 

"Miss  Ledesma,  when  Eveley  speaks  like 
that,  I  know  your  friendship  is  a  priceless 
boon,  and  I  want  my  share  of  it.  I  am  receiv- 
ing a  sort  of  psychic  message  that  you  and  1 
are  destined  to  be  good  comrades." 

A  sudden  wave  of  light  swept  over  her 
lovely  face,  and  her  lips  parted  in  a  happy 
smile. 

"Lieutenant  Ames,"  she  whispered  in  her 
soft  voice,  "do  you  really  feel  so?  And  then 
you  also  are  my  friend?" 


SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION     275 

**Jimmy  Ames,  you  stop  that,"  cried  Eve- 
ley.  "Marie  belongs  to  me,  and  you  must  not 
even  try  to  supplant  me.  I  won't  have  it. 
Come  on  in,  everybody,  and  let's  play,  play, 
play  to  our  heart's  content." 

Marie  went  through  the  window  first,  with 
a  hght  slender  swing  of  her  feet.  But  Eve- 
ley,  as  always  plunging  impulsively,  lost  her 
balance  and  fell  among  the  cushions.  Nolan 
and  the  lieutenant  followed  laughing. 

"We  must  take  a  day  off  and  teach  Eveley 
the  approved  method  of  making  entrance  to  a 
social  gathering,"  said  Nolan.  "Are  you  all 
black  and  blue,  you  poor  child?"  he  asked, 
helping  her  up,  for  she  had  waited  patiently 
for  his  assistance. 

It  was  a  wonderfully  happy  party.  They 
played  the  Victrola,  and  danced  merrily 
through  the  two  rooms,  around  the  reading 
table,  through  the  archway,  winding  among 
the  chairs  in  the  dining-room.  When  they 
were  tired,  Marie  brought  her  mandolin, — for 
having  remarked  once  idly  that  she  could 
play  it,  Eveley  that  night  had  brought  her 
one  as  a  little  gift  of  love.   And  she  played 


276  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

soft  Spanish  love-songs,  singing  in  her  pretty 
lilting  voice.  Then  all  together  they  prepared 
their  supper  and  because  the  night  was  still 
young  and  lovely,  and  they  were  happy  and 
free  from  pressing  care,  they  decided  sudden- 
ly for  a  drive.  They  crossed  the  bay  on  the 
ferry  to  Coronado,  and  went  down  on  the 
sands  of  the  beach  for  a  while,  standing 
quietly  to  watch  the  silver  tips  of  the  waves 
shining  in  the  pale  moonlight.  Then  they 
drove  out  the  Silver  Strand  and  so  home  once 
more. 

Before  they  parted,  they  arranged  for  an- 
other party,  two  nights  later,  and  after  long 
discussion  agreed  that  it  should  be  an  eve- 
ning swimming  party  in  the  bay  at  Coronado, 
with  a  hot  supper  afterward  in  the  Cloud 
Cote. 

"How  did  you  like  our  Lieutenant  Jimmy?" 
Eveley  demanded,  as  soon  as  they  were  alone. 

*'He  is  incomparable,"  said  Marie  simply. 

*T  knew  it,"  cried  Eveley  ecstatically. 
"Nolan  and  I  both  said  so.  Spontaneous  com- 
bustion, that  is  what  it  was.  Come  and  sleep 
with  me  again  to-night.  It  is  such  fun  to  go 


SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION     277 

to  bed  and  turn  out  the  light  and  talk.  Did 
you  ever  do  it?" 

"No,  my  life  has  not  been  of  that  kind." 

"But  you  will  learn.  I  never  saw  any  one 
learn  as  quickly  as  you  do, — especially  things 
about  men. — Now  I  shall  begin  by  telling  you 
how  adorable  Nolan  is,  and  you  must  inter- 
rupt me  to  say  how  wonderful  Jimmy  is. — 
Did  you  ever  have  a  sweetheart,  Marie?" 
Then  she  added  quickly:  "Wait,  wait.  I — ^I 
did  not  mean  to  ask  questions, — ^Excuse  me, 
I  am  sorry.  Let's  talk  of  something  else." 

"No,  let's  talk  of  lovers,"  said  Marie, 
snuggling  close  to  Eveley,  her  head  lying 
against  her  shoulder.  "I  have  never  had  the 
regular  kind  of  a  lover, — your  kind, — the 
kind  that  women  want.  My  life  was  full  of 
war  and  horrors,  and  I  had  not  time  for  the 
thrills  of  love.  And  the  men  I  knew  were  not 
the  men  that  one  would  wish  to  love  one," 

"Then,  this  is  your  chance,"  said  Eveley 
happily.  "Now  I  am  positively  sure  that  one 
of  these  days  you  will  be  a  matchless  Amer- 
ican woman.  You  are  just  ripe  and  ready  for 
love.    You  can't  escape  it,  you  sweet  thing, 


278  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

even  if  you  could  wish.  War  and  horrors 
were  left  behind  in  your  old  home.  Here  in 
your  new  home  you  will  know  only  peace  and 
contentment  and  love.  Aren't  you  glad  I 
adopted  you  ?  We  must  give  Mr.  Hiltze  credit 
for  that  anyhow,  mustn't  we  ?" 

There  was  a  sudden  tension  in  the  slender 
figure  at  her  side.  "Eveley,  are  you  so  inno- 
cent? Do  you  never  attribute  evil  motives 
to  any  one  ?  Do  you  always  believe  only  good 
and  beautiful  and  lovely  things  of  those  you 
meet?" 

*'Well,  I  have  no  real  reason  for  thinking 
mean  or  ugly  things  of  any  one — not  really. 
I  never  had  any  horrors  in  my  life  until  the 
war  came.  I  have  just  lived  along  serenely 
and  contentedly,  and  being  fairly  nice  and 
kind,  I  have  no  guilty  conscience  to  trouble 
me,  and  no  one  has  ever  been  hateful  or  mean 
to  me — not  in  anything  that  really  counted." 

Both  were  silent  a  moment,  thinking,  each 
in  her  different  way,  of  the  contrast  in  their 
lives.   Then  Eveley  went  on,  more  slov/ly: 

**I  feel  sometimes  that  v/e  are  living  on  the 
crest  of  a  terrible  upheaval — that  we  are  on 


SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION     279 

the  edge  of  a  seething  volcano  which  is 
threatening  and  rumbling  beneath  us,  each 
day  growing  fiercer  and  more  ominous,  and 
that  presently  may  come  chaos,  and  we  on  the 
crater  of  life  will  be  dragged  down  into  the 
furnace  with  the  rest.  I  suppose,"  she  added 
apologetically,  ''it  is  because  of  the  conditions 
that  always  follow  a  w^ar,  the  political  unrest, 
the  social  chaos,  the  anarchistic  tendencies 
of  every  one.  I  am  not  in  the  midst  of  things 
enough  to  understand  them,  but  even  up  here 
on  the  top  of  our  canyon,  we  sometimes  get 
a  blast  of  the  hot  air  from  below,  and  it 
troubles  us.  Then  we  try  to  forget,  and  go 
on  with  our  playing.  But  the  volcano  still 
rum.bles  beneath." 

Eveley  slipped  her  hand  out  to  take  Marie's 
and  found  it  icy  cold. 

''Did — did  you  ever  feel  so  before?"  asked 
Marie  in  a  low  strange  voice.  "That  you 
were  living  on  the  rim  of  a  volcano,  ready  to 
catch  and  crush  you  ?" 

"No,  not  before.  It  is  just  now — after  the 
war.  Conditions  were  never  the  same  be- 
fore.'" 


280  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

Then  Marie  burst  into  a  passion  of  tears. 
"It  is  my  fault,"  she  sobbed.  "It  is  because 
I  am  here.  All  my  life  I  have  lived  in  the 
crater  of  a  volcano,  and  I  have  brought  it 
upon  you.  It  is  a  curse  I  carry  with  me.  It 
is  the  chaos  from  which  I  have  come,  and  to 
which  I  must  go  again  when  I  leave  you — 
it  is  that  which  destroys  your  peace." 

Frightened  and  astonished,  Eveley  soothed 
her,  cradling  her  in  her  arms.  "You  little 
silly,"  she  said  tenderly.  "You  dear  little 
goose.  Don't  you  believe  any  such  nonsense 
as  that.  We  are  in  a  condition  of  turmoil, 
our  United  States  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
world.  It  is  not  the  affairs  of  your  Mexico 
that  worry  me — it  is  the  tempest  in  my  own 
country.  And  don't  you  ever  talk  any  more 
about  going  back.  You  shall  never  go  back. 
You  are  to  stay  here  with  me  forever  and 
ever,  world  without  end,  amen.  You  will, 
won't  you?" 

Marie  only  stirred  a  little,  and  did  not  an- 
swer. 

"Marie,"  cried  Eveley,  her  voice  sharp  with 
fear.    '*Do  you  ever  think  really  of  going  back 


SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION     281 

to — that?  Answer  me."  And  she  gripped 
Marie's  soft  shoulder  with  strong  fingers. 

"I  do  not  think  any  more,"  said  Marie  gen- 
tly. **But  one  always  has  a  feeling  that  one 
must  return  whence  one  has  come,  do  you  not 
think?  It  is  only  that.  It  seems  incredible 
that  I,  alone  out  of  our  struggling  thousands, 
should  be  let  to  come  away  and  live  serenely 
in  a  cloud  cote,  does  it  not  ?  And  the  struggle 
in  Mexico  goes  on." 

*The  same  kind  of  peace  and  contentment 
will  come  to  all  your  country  when  the  world 
is  settled  do^vn  to  law  and  order  once  more," 
said  Eveley,  with  the  sublime  faith  of  the 
young  and  the  unsuffering.  **It  just  takes 
time.  And  God  was  good  enough  to  carry 
you  away  before  the  end  of  the  conflict.  Just 
wait.  When  our  country  is  thoroughly  Amer- 
icanized, and  returns  to  joyful  work  and  love 
and  life  again,  the  contagion  will  spread  to 
your  people,  and  peace  will  reign  there  also. 
So  do  not  talk  any  more  nonsense  about  leav- 
ing me.  Now  let's  go  back  to  the  beginning, 
and  talk  about — the  men." 


CHAPTER  XVm 
CONVERTS  OF  LOVE 

AVERY  warm  intimacy  developed  rapid- 
ly between  the  four  friends,  and  every 
evening  for  nearly  two  weeks  found  them 
joyfully,  even  riotously,  making  merry  to- 
gether in  the  Cloud  Cote.  As  Eveley  had 
prophesied,  Lieutenant  Ames  was  hopelessly 
lost  from  the  first,  and  Marie  yielded  herself 
very  readily  to  the  charm  of  an  ardent 
wooing. 

But  with  Eveley,  Marie  was  different,  more 
quiet,  less  demonstrative,  sometimes  plainly 
listless  and  absent-minded.  Eveley  ascribed 
the  change  to  her  newly  developed  interest  in 
Lieutenant  Ames,  and  patiently  awaited  the 
outcome  of  the  ripening  romance.  For  Eveley 
had  a  deep-seated  sympathy  with  every  ap- 
peal of  love. 

For  many  weeks  she  had  received  no  word 
from  Miriam  Landis.  Although  she  had 
passed  in  an  hour  from  all  connection  with 
282 


CONVERTS  OF  LOVE  283 

their  daily  plans,  yet  she  was  never  far  from 
their  thought.  Even  without  their  tender 
and  sympathetic  memories,  they  could  not 
have  forgotten  her,  for  her  husband  was  a 
frequent  and  always  tumultuous  visitor  in  the 
Cote. 

He  invariably  began  talking  before  he  was 
through  the  window,  and  his  first  words 
were  unfailingly  the  same. 

"I  can't  stand  it,  Eveley,  I  simply  can't 
stand  it.  You've  got  to  do  something 
about  it." 

Again  and  again  he  came  v/ith  this  appeal, 
always  overlooking  the  fact  that  Eveley  had 
no  faintest  idea  of  Miriam's  whereabouts, 
for,  true  to  her  word,  she  had  kept  her  hiding- 
place  unknown  to  them  all. 

Then  for  several  w^eeks  he  did  not  come, 
and  Eveley  felt  that  perhaps  he  was  recon- 
ciled, and  had  returned  to  his  old  pursuit  of 
secluded  ballroom  corners.  But  Nolan  as- 
sured her  of  the  injustice  of  this.  Lem  had 
forsaken  all  his  former  haunts,  and  had  be- 
come a  recluse,  brooding  alone  in  his  deserted 
home. 


284  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

"It  will  do  him  good,  even  if  it  does  not 
last,"  Nolan  said.  "Almost  any  one  would 
grieve  for  a  woman  like  Miriam  for  a  few 
months." 

"Perhaps  it  is  permanent  this  time,  and 
there  will  be  a  reconciliation,  and  both  live 
happily  ever  after,"  said  Eveley,  with  her 
usual  buoyant  faith  in  the  cheerful  outcome. 

Gordon  Cameron  she  had  seen  only  once 
since  Miriam's  departure,  and  that  was  when 
he  came  at  her  request  to  receive  Miriam's 
message.  He  had  listened  quietly,  while  she 
repeated  the  words  of  her  friend. 

"I  expected  it,  of  course,"  he  said  at  last 
gravely.  "The  pity  of  it  is  that  her  little  rev- 
olution was  so  hopeless  from  the  beginning. 
As  long  as  a  woman  loves  her  husband,  she 
can  not  hope  for  happiness,  nor  even  for  for- 
getfulness." 

"Oh,  she  does  not  love  her  husband  any 
more,"  said  Eveley  confidently.  "Not  a  bit. 
She  is  over  that  long  ago." 

"That  was  the  whole  trouble,"  he  insisted. 
"If  she  had  not  loved  him,  she  could  have 
stood  it  and  gone  her  way.    But  loving  him, 


CONVERTS  OF  LOVE  285 

the  situation  was  impossible  for  a  woman  of 
spirit  and  pride.  Vv^ell,  there  is  always  one 
to  pay  in  every  triangle,  and  this  time  the 
bill  comes  to  me.  But  I  had  anticipated  that 
from  the  beginning.  She  is  a  wonderful  wom»- 
an." 

**Do  you  think  she  will  go  back  to  her  hus- 
band?" asked  Eveley  breathlessly. 

"I  hardly  think  so.  She  might  as  well, 
though ;  perhaps  it  would  be  better.  She  can 
not  be  happy  without  him,  and  she  was  cer- 
tainly not  happy  with  him.  It  is  only  a 
choice  of  miseries.  As  long  as  she  loves  him, 
she  will  suffer  for  it.  I  begin  to  think  that 
one  who  loves  can  not  be  happy." 

"Oh,  yes,  one  can.  One  is,"  asserted  Eveley 
positively. 

"Perhaps  I  should  say,  when  one  is  married 
to  it,"  he  added,  with  a  sober  smile  for  her 
assurance. 

Then  he  had  gone  away,  and  when  Lem's 
pleadings  had  suddenly  ceased,  Eveley  felt 
that  the  little  tempest  would  live  its  life,  and 
die  its  death,  and  perhaps  Miriam  at  least 
would  find  happiness  in  the  lull  that  followed. 


286  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

So  it  was  something  of  a  shock  to  have  her 
pleasant  Sunday  morning  nap  disturbed  by 
Lem  pounding  briskly  upon  her  window. 

"Get  up,  immediately,"  he  said  in  an  as- 
sertive voice  quite  different  from  his  futile 
and  inane  pleadings  of  a  short  while  before. 
*'Hurry,  Eveley,  I  want  you.  Dress  for  mo- 
toring, my  car  is  here.  I  shall  wait  in  the 
garden — give  you  ten  minutes." 

"He  must  want  me  for  a  bridesmaid  for  his 
second  wedding,"  thought  Eveley  resentfully, 
as  she  hurriedly  dressed.  But  accustomed  to 
obey  the  calls  of  friendship,  she  put  on  a 
heavy  sport  skirt  and  sweater,  and  had  even 
pulled  her  soft  hat  over  her  curls  before  she 
went  to  the  window. 

"I  am  ready,  but  I  do  not  approve  of  it," 
she  began  rather  unpleasantly. 

"You'd  better  take  a  doughnut,  or  a  roll, 
or  an  orange,  or  something,  for  we  have  no 
time  for  breakfast,"  he  said  in  the  same  as- 
sertive voice.  "She  will  not  be  back  until 
afternoon.  Miss  Ledesma.  Sorry  if  it  inter- 
feres with  any  of  your  plans,  but  it  can  not 
be  helped.    Get  your  coat,  quickly,  Eveley." 


CONVERTS  OF  LOVE  287 

"It  does  interfere  with  our  plans,"  she  said 
crossly.  "We  were  going  up  to  the  mountains 
for  a  beefsteak  fry  with  Jimmy  and  Nolan." 

"Never  mind,"  said  Marie  softly.  "It  may 
come  another  Sunday.  Mr.  Landis  seems  to 
need  you." 

"All  ready,  Eveley?  Let  me  help  you. 
Good-by,  Miss  Ledesma." 

And  Eveley  found  herself  marching  briskly 
down  the  rustic  steps  away  from  her  own 
plan  and  her  own  desire,  and  with  no  know- 
ledge of  what  lay  before  her. 

"You  might  at  least  tell  me  where  we  are 
going,"  she  said  at  last,  after  he  had  hurried 
her  into  the  car  and  started  away. 

"To  see  Miriam,"  he  answered. 
■   "Oh !"  Eveley's  voice  was  a  long  gasp.  She 
was  content  to  wait  after  that  for  his  ex- 
planation, although  it  was  very  slow  in  com- 
ing. 

"She  is  at  a  ranch  up  in  the  mountains," 
he  said  finally.  "About  fifty  miles.  We  just 
located  her  last  night.  I  have  been  looking, 
for  her  all  the  time.  You  are  going  to  talk 
to  her  for  me." 


288  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"Oh,  amir 

"Yes.  I  was  afraid  to  come  alone  for  fear 
she  would  not  see  me.  She  will  not  refuse  to 
see  you." 

"Do  you  mind  telling  me  what  I  am  going 
to  say  to  her  ?" 

He  was  silent  a  while,  thinking.  "She  re- 
fused to  take  any  money  from  me,"  he  said, 
presently.  "And  she  has  very  little.  If  she 
persists  in  this,  she  will  have  to  work  for  her 
living.  Miriam  can  not  do  that." 

"No,"  said  Eveley  softly. 

"She  does  not  want  me  for  a  husband  yet," 
he  said  humbly.  "And  that  is  right.  But  I 
must  have  Miriam,  and  she  shall  never  have 
any  one  else  but  me — ^not  that  I  think  she 
would  ever  want  anybody  else.  You  are  to 
tell  Miriam  she  must  come  home,  and  live  her 
life  just  as  she  wishes  and  do  as  she  pleases 
in  everything,  and  allow  me  to  be  a  servant 
for  her,  to  provide  what  she  wants  and  needs, 
to  take  care  of  her  if  she  is  sick.  Tell  her 
she  may  have  any  friends  she  likes,  lovers 
even  if  she  wishes,  but  that  she  must  let  me 
work  for  her." 


CONVERTS  OF  LOVE  289 

Eveley  laid  her  hand  affectionately  upon 
his  arm.  "I  have  never  done  you  justice, 
Lem;  forgive  me.  I  think  Miriam  will  come 
home.    I  hope  she  will." 

"She  has  to.  And  after  a  while,  when  she 
sees  in  me  what  she  used  to  think  was  there, 
she  will  love  me  again.  But  in  the  meantime, 
I  shall  ask  nothing  and  expect  nothing.  But 
Miriam  has  got  to  be  in  the  house." 

Eveley  only  spoke  once  after  that. 

*lf  she  will  not  come?" 

He  turned  upon  her  then,  a  sudden  grim 
smile  lighting  his  face.  *'l  know  what  I  shall 
do  then,"  he  said.  "But  you  will  think  it  is 
madness.  If  she  refuses  to  come,  I  shall 
make  the  necessary  arrangements,  and  kid- 
nap her.    She's  got  to  come." 

Eveley  burst  into  quick  laughter  at  the  pic- 
ture that  came  to  her — a  picture  of  the  old- 
time,  immaculate  Lem  of  the  ballrooms,  car- 
rying his  wife  away  into  the  mountains  to 
live  a  cave-man  life. 

He  laughed  with  her,  but  the  dead-set  of 
his  face  remained.  "It  sounds  like  a  joke,*' 
he  admitted.    "But  I  have  made  up  my  mind. 


290  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

Miriam  is  mine,  and  I  am  going  to  have  her. 
We'll  just  go  up  into  the  mountains  for  a  few 
months,  and  she  will  see  that  I  am  cured." 

Mile  after  mile  they  drove  in  silence  up  the 
steep  mountain  grades,  and  after  a  long  time 
he  drew  the  car  off  beside  the  road  under  a 
cluster  of  trees. 

'That  is  the  ranch,  but  I  will  not  drive  in. 
If  she  saw  us  coming  she  would  not  talk  to  us, 
so  you  must  catch  her  unawares.  I  shall  wait 
here  for  you.  You'd  better  not  tell  her  I  am 
going  to  kidnap  her,  I  think  I  would  rather 
take  her  by  surprise.  She  has  to  come. 
Eve,  now  make  her  see  it.  Just  a  servant 
that  is  all  I  want  to  be  to  her  for  a  while.  But 
she  did  love  me,  and  she  will  again." 

So  Eveley  walked  swiftly  up  the  drive  to 
the  house,  keeping  in  the  shadow  as  much  as 
possible,  surprised  to  know  that  after  all  the 
years  of  her  disgust  for  the  husband  of  her 
friend,  her  sympathies  now  were  all  with 
him. 

At  the  kitchen  door  she  assumed  her  most 
winsome  and  disarming  smile  and  asked  for 
Mrs.  Landis. 


CONVERTS  OF  LOVE  291 

"She  does  not  wish  to  see  any  one/*  said 
the  woman  quickly.  "She  said  particularly 
that  she  would  not  see  any  callers." 

"But  she  will  see  me,  I  am  sure,"  said 
Eveley  coaxingly.  "You  ask  her.  Tell  her 
it  is  Eveley  Ainsworth.  She  always  sees  me." 

"But  she  told  me  particularly,"  repeated 
the  woman.  "And  she  is  not  here  anyhow. 
She  has  gone  over  the  hill.  She  likes  to  be 
among  the  pines.  She  is  not  v/ell,  either.  I 
am  sorry,  miss,  but  she  is  not  here,  and  she 
would  not  see  you  if  she  were." 

"How  far  is  it  to  the  hill?  And  does  she 
stay  long?" 

"It  is  not  far,"  said  the  wom.an,  with  a 
wave  of  her  hand  toward  the  east.  "But  she 
will  not  come  home  for  luncheon.  She  has 
no  appetite.  And  the  boys  are  out,  so  I  have 
no  one  to  send  for  her.    I  am  sorry,  miss." 

'*You  think  there  is  no  use  to  wait,  then  ?" 

"Oh,  no  use  at  all,  miss.  She  will  be  gone 
for  hours,  and  she  would  not  see  you  if  she 
were  here." 

"Tell  her  I  came,  won't  you  ?  Eveley  Ains- 
worth.   Thank  you." 


292  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

And  with  another  disarming  smile  Eveley 
turned  back  to  the  path.  But  as  soon  as  she 
was  out  of  sight  of  the  house,  she  slipped  off 
through  the  trees,  and  started  on  a  light  run 
for  the  pine  grove  on  the  hill  to  the  east. 

"As  Lem  says,  poor  thing,  she  has  to,"  she 
said  to  herself,  with  a  smile.  And  very  soon 
she  was  among  the  big  pines,  looking  eagerly 
back  and  forth,  quite  determined  not  to  re- 
turn to  Lem  until  she  had  seen  Miriam  and 
talked  her  into  reason.  And  so  at  last  she 
came  upon  her,  sitting  somberly  under  the 
big  trees,  her  back  against  a  huge  boulder, 
staring  away  down  the  mountains  into  the 
haze  of  the  sea  in  the  west,  where  her  hus- 
band lived  in  the  city  by  the  bay. 

^'Miriam,"  Eveley  called  in  a  ringing  voice, 
and  ran  joyously  down  the  path. 

Miriam  sprang  up  to  meet  her.  *'Eveley!" 
she  cried,  catching  her  hands  eagerly.  And 
then,  "Have  you  seen — Lem?  Is  he — all 
right?" 

Eveley  held  her  hands  a  moment,  looking 
searchingly  into  the  thin  face  and  the 
shadowy  eyes. 


CONVERTS  OF  LOVE  293 

"Revolutions  are  hard  work,  aren't  they  V 
she  asked  with  deep  sympathy. 

"Oh,  Eveley,  they  are  killing,  heart-break- 
ing, soul- wracking,"  she  cried.  "And  yet  of 
course  it  was  right  and  best  for  me  to  come," 
she  added  gravely.  "Does  Lem  seem  to — 
miss  me  ?"  And  there  was  wistfulness  in  her 
voice. 

"He  is  out  there  now,"  said  Eveley,  waving 
her  hand  toward  the  road.  "He  brought  me 
up." 

At  the  first  v/ord,  Miriam  had  turned  quick- 
ly, ready  to  run  down — not  to  the  house  for 
shelter,  but  to  the  car  for  comfort.  But  she 
stopped  in  a  moment,  and  came  backl 

"I  shall  not  see  him,  of  course,"  she  said 
quietly. 

"I  brought  a  message  from  him.  He  says 
you  must  come  home,  Miriam,  he  says  his 
madness  is  all  purged  away,  and  that  you  are 
his  and  he  must  have  you.  But  he  wants  you 
to  come  and  live  your  own  life  and  do  as  you 
wish,  only  allowing  him  to  stay  in  the  home 
not  as  your  husband,  but  as  your  servant 
until  you  learn  to  love  and  trust  him  again. 


294  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

He  says  you  must  come,  and  let  him  work  for 
you,  and  take  care  of  you." 

Miriam^s  face  was  very  white,  and  her  eyes 
deep  wells  of  pain. 

"Poor  Lem !"  she  said  tenderly.  ''So  sweet 
— and  so  weak." 

"I  think  he  is  finding  strength,"  said 
Eveley. 

For  a  long  time,  the  two  girls  stood  there, 
side  by  side,  Eveley  looking  into  the  haze  of 
the  sea  miles  below,  Miriam  staring  down 
through  the  pines  to  where  she  knew  a  car 
might  be  waiting  in  the  shadows. 

"We  must  not  keep  him  waiting,"  she  said 
at  last. 

Without  a  word,  they  turned,  hand  in  hand 
and  started  down  to  the  road  again.  When 
she  saw  the  little,  well-known  car  beneath  the 
trees,  and  Lem  standing  rigid  beside  it,  she 
caught  her  breath  suddenly.  Eveley  would 
have  hung  back,  to  let  her  greet  her  husband 
alone,  but  Miriam  clung  to  her  hand  and 
pulled  her  forward. 

He  came  to  meet  them,  awkwardly,  a  gleam 
of  hope  in  his  eyes,  but  meekness  in  his  man- 


CONVERTS  OF  LOVE  295 

ner.  He  held  out  his  hand,  and  Miriam  with 
a  little  flutter  dropped  her  own  into  it,  pull- 
ing it  quickly  away  again. 

"Are  you — all  right,  Lem?  You  look — 
thin,"  she  said  with  shy  sohcitude. 

"I  feel  thin,"  he  replied  grimly.  "Are — 
you  coming  with  us?" 

"Yes,  of  course,"  said  Eveley. 

"Yes,  of  course,"  Miriam  echoed  faintly. 

"Shall  I  drive?"  suggested  Eveley,  antici- 
pating complete  reconciliation  for  the  two  in 
their  first  moment  of  privacy. 

"I  will  drive,"  said  Lem.  "You  girls  sit  in 
the  back.  Did  Eveley  explain  that  I  only  ex- 
pect to  be — your  driver,  and  your  valet,  and 
your  servant — for  a  while." 

Tears  brightened  in  Miriam's  eyes.  "Oh, 
Lem,"  she  cried,  holding  out  her  hands. 
"How  can  people  talk  of  servants  who  have 
loved — as  we  have  loved?" 

Eveley  immediately  went  into  a  deep  and 
concentrated  study  of  the  rear  tires,  for 
Miriam  was  close  in  her  husband's  arms,  and 
his  tears  were  falling  upon  her  fragrant 
curls. 


296  EVE   TO   THE   KESCUE 

After  a  while,  he  held  her  away  froir  him 
and  looked  into  her  tender  face. 

"It  isn't — you  aren't  coming,  then,  just  be- 
cause it  is  your  duty  to  give  me  every 
chance,"  he  whispered. 

"Oh,  no,  dear,  just  because  I  love  you." 

Eveley  was  still  utterly  immersed  in  the 
condition  of  the  tires. 

"We'll  try  it  again,  Lem— " 

"Oh,  Miriam,"  he  broke  in,  "it  isn't  any 
trial  this  time.  This  is  marriage." 

Eventually  they  got  started  toward  home 
and  had  driven  many  miles  before  Miriam  no- 
ticed that  her  uncovered  hair  was  blowing  in 
the  wind,  and  remembered  that  she  had  left 
the  ranch  without  notice  and  that  all  her 
things  were  there.  But  what  were  simple 
things  and  formal  notices  when  human 
hearts  were  finding  happiness  and  faith  ? 

In  the  Cloud  Cote,  Eve's  friends  were  pa- 
tiently awaiting  her  return.  Nolan  was  read- 
ing poetry  aloud  to  himself  in  the  roof 
garden,  and  Lieutenant  Ames  was  labo- 
riously picking  chords  on  the  piano,  with 
Marie  near  him  strumming  on  the  mandolin. 


CONVERTS  OF  LOVE  297 

The  first  creak  of  the  rustic  stair  brought 
them  all  to  the  landing  to  greet  her. 

"Reconciliation,"  shoutel  Nolan,  before  she 
-was  half-way  up.  "Miriam  is  home,  and  they 
have  already  lived  happily  ever  after." 

Eveley  began  immediately  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  the  day's  happenings  standing  mo- 
tionless on  the  third  step  from  the  top  until 
she  finished  her  recital. 

Then  she  went  back  down,  and  gave  an  im- 
patient tap  on  the  seventh  stair. 

"Weil,  you  started  something,"  she  said  to 
it  solemnly.  "And  you  ought  to  be  satisfied 
now,  if  anybody  is.  To-morrow  I  shall  crown 
you  with  a  wreath  of  laurel." 

Then  she  went  up  again.  "Does  this  do 
anything  to  your  theory  about  duty?"  asked 
Nolan.  "Does  it  prove  it,  or  disprove  it,  or 
what?  I  can  not  seem  to  get  any  connec- 
tion." 

"But  there  is  a  connection,"  she  said,  with  a 
smile.  "It  absolutely  and  everlastingly  proves 
the  Exception." 

"Eveley  Ainsworth,  don't  ever  say  excep- 
tion again  until  you  can  explain  it,"  cried 


298  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

Nolan.  "I  dream  of  exceptions  by  night,  and 
I  legalize  them  by  day.  Be  a  nice  girl,  and  do 
a  good  deed  this  Sabbath  Day  by  expounding 
the  virtues  of  the  One  Exception." 

But  Eveley  was  hungry,  and  said  she  could 
not  expound  anything  when  her  system 
clamored  for  tea. 

Eveley's  Sabbath,  however,  was  not  yet 
ended.  While  she  was  blissfully  sipping  her 
tea,  the  three  she  loved  best  in  the  world 
about  her,  there  came  a  gentle  tap  upon  her 
window,  and  Mrs.  Severs  walked  in. 

"So  sorry  to  bother  you.  Miss  Ainsworth," 
she  began  apologetically,  ''but  I  want  to  ask 
a  favor.  Father  is  moving  back  with  us  to- 
day, and — " 

"What!" 

"Yes,  indeed  he  is,"  she  cried  blithely.  "I 
was  so  lonesome,  and  some  days  I  am  so  ill, 
that  I  asked  him  as  a  personal  favor  if  he 
wouldn't  come  and  try  me  just  once  more,  and 
he  said.  Holy  Mackinaw !  he  had  been  aching 
to  do  that  very  thing." 

"Well,"  Eveley  said  judiciously,  "I  suppose 
you  will  all  be  satisfied  now  that  you  are  back 


CONVERTS  OF  LOVE  299 

in  your  old  rut  wretchedly  doing  your  duty 
by  each  other." 

"I  should  say  not,"  denied  Mrs.  Severs 
promptly.  "I  asked  father  to  come  because 
I — like  him  awfully  much,  and  it  is  so  lonely 
without  him,  and  he  is  coming  because  he 
missed  us  and  is  fond  of  us,  and  there  isn't 
any  duty  about  it.  You  have  converted  us. 
We  do  not  believe  in  duty." 

*^And  the  favor?" 

''Yes — father  is  bringing  the  flivver  of 
course — and  the  garage  is  so  big.  Do  you 
mind  if  we  keep  it  there  with  your  car  ?  We 
will  pay  any  extra  rent,  of  course." 

"Keep  it  there  by  all  means,"  said  Eveley 
generously.  '*And  there  is  no  rent.  And 
when  I  get  stuck  anywhere  I  shall  expect  you 
to  tow  me  home  for  love."  And  when  Mrs. 
Severs  had  gone,  Eveley  said:  "Make  an- 
other pot  of  tea,  please,  Marie.  Make  two 
pots — three  if  you  like." 

"Pretty  hard  to  keep  some  people  properly 
adjusted,  isn't  it?"  asked  Nolan  soberly,  but 
with  laughter  in  his  eyes. 

"What  is  proved  by  the  case  of  Father-in- 


300  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

law  and  the  Bride,  Eveley?"  asked  Marie 
with  a  soft  teasing  smile  as  she  refilled 
Eveley's  cup. 

But  Eveley  went  into  a  remote  corner  of 
the  room,  and  brandished  the  bread  knife  for 
protection,  before  she  cried  triumphantly: 

*The  Exception.  It  is  another  positive 
proof  of  the  utter  efficacy  of  my  One  Excep- 
tion." 


CHAPTER  XIX 
SHE  DOUBTS  HER  THEORY 

ONE  morning  Eveley  telephoned  from  the 
office  to  Marie  that  she  would  not  be 
home  for  dinner  that  night,  as  she  was  going 
with  Kitty  to  hear  the  minute  details  of  her 
engagement,  and  the  plans  of  her  coming 
marriage  with  Arnold.  She  assured  Marie 
that  she  would  be  home  early,  begged  her  not 
to  be  lonesome,  cautioned  her  once  more  not 
to  venture  into  the  canyon  after  nightfall, 
and  went  serenely  on  her  way. 

At  ten  o'clock  that  night  she  guided  her 
car  into  the  garage  whistling  boyishly,  and 
ran  up  the  rustic  stairs,  stopping  with  pain- 
ful suddenness  on  the  landing  as  she  observed 
there  was  no  light  in  the  Cote. 

**Marie,"  she  called,  "Marie!" 

She  looked  anxiously  over  the  little  roof 
garden,    and   peered   down   to   the    canyon. 
Twice  she  went  up  to  the  window,  and  each 
time  drew  back  again,  afraid  to  enter. 
301 


302  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

She  leaned  over  the  railing  on  the  roof,  call- 
ing aimlessly  and  hopelessly. 

''Marie,  Marie!-' 

A  moment  later  she  heard  a  light  step  be- 
low, "Oh,  Marie,"  she  cried  and  her  voice  was 
a  sob. 

"It's  me,  Miss  Eveley,  what's  the  matter?" 

It  was  only  Angelo  running  up  the  steps 
to  her. 

"Angelo,  what  are  you  doing  here?"  she 
demanded  sharply,  her  nerves  on  edge. 

"Oh,  I  was  just  fooling  around,"  he  said 
evasively.    "I  thought  I  heard  you  calling." 

But  Eveley's  nerves  were  too  highly  strung 
this  night  to  brook  an  idle  answer.  She 
caught  him  by  the  shoulder. 

"Tell  me  where  you  have  been  and  what 
you  were  doing,"  and  there  was  something 
like  suspicion  in  her  voice. 

And  then  suddenly  the  little  bit  of  foreign 
flotsam  became  a  man,  to  give  her  courage. 

"Com.e  inside  and  sit  down,"  he  said  au- 
thoritatively. "I'll  tell  you  what  I've  been 
doing,  but  don't  stand  out  here  like  this  and 
get  yourself  all  worked  up  for  nothing." 


SHE  DOUBTS  HER  THEORY       303 

He  threw  up  the  window,  and  went  in  first, 
turning  on  the  light,  and  Eveley  followed  him 
numbly. 

**Now  sit  down  and  I'll  tell  you.  I  have 
been  sleeping  in  the  garage  ever  since  you 
got  mixed  up  with  that  bunch  of  Bolshevists 
and — er  Greasers.  I  thought  something 
might  happen  and  I've  sort  of  stuck  around. 
I  had  a  key  made  to  the  garage,  and  I've  got 
a  nice  bed  fixed  up  in  the  attic." 

Eveley  held  out  her  hand  with  a  faint 
smile.  **You  are  a  good  friend,  Angelo,  sure 
enough.  But  there  was  no  danger.  And  oh, 
where  can  my  Marie  have  gone?" 

"Are  her  things  here?" 

Acting  instantly  upon  the  suggestion, 
Eveley  ran  into  the  other  room  followed  close- 
ly by  Angelo.  Every  slightest  scrap  and 
shred  that  had  been  Marie's  had  disappeared. 

**Maybe  she  left  a  note  somewhere,"  said 
Angelo. 

Frantically  Eveley  flashed  through  the 
small  rooms,  searching  eagerly  for  some  final 
word  or  token.  But  there  was  nothing  to  be 
found. 


304  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"Some  one  has  kidnapped  her,"  she  cried, 
wringing  her  hands.  "We  must  phone  the 
police." 

"I  wouldn't  do  that — not  yet.  I'd  phone 
for  Mr.  Nolan  first.  Let  me  do  it.  And  why 
don't  you  go  down-stairs  and  ask  them  if 
they  saw  any  one  around  here  to-day,  or  saw 
her  leaving?" 

"Oh,  Angelo,  that  is  fine,"  she  cried.  "I'll 
go — and  you  phone  Nolan  quickly." 

By  the  time  she  returned,  Nolan  was  on 
his  way  to  the  Cote. 

"She — she  left  herself — just  walked  away 
with  her  bag — alone,"  said  Eveley  faintly.  "I 
am  afraid  she  did  not — care  for  me."  And 
there  was  sorrow  in  her  voice. 

"Oh,  sure  she  did,"  said  Angela  reassur- 
ingly. "That's  why  she  left  I  guess.  She  may 
be  in  bad  in  some  way,  and  so  she  went  off 
not  to  get  you  mixed  up  in  it." 

"Do  you  think  that,  Angelo?  Do  you 
really?  But  she  should  not  have  gone  for 
that.  I  would  have  stood  by  Marie  through 
any  kind  of  trouble." 

Angelo  walked  impatiently  about  the  room. 


SHE  DOUBTS  HER  THEORY       305 

fingering  endless  little  objects,  puzzling  in  his 
mind  what  to  say  and  what  to  do. 

"He  could  be  here  if  he  had  taken  a  taxi," 
he  said  restlessly.     "I  told  him  to  beat  it." 

"We  might  phone  Mr.  Hiltze,"  said  Eveley 
suddenly.    "He  may  know  where  to  find  her." 

Angelo  smiled  scornfully  at  that.  "Aw 
gee,  Miss  Eveley,  ain't  you  on  to  them  yet? 
Sure  they  are  working  in  cahoots," 

Eveley  sat  down  at  once  and  folded  her 
hands.  "Now,  Angelo,  tell  me  everything 
you  know,  or  suspect  about  them.  Begin  at 
the  beginning.  You  may  be  wrong,  but  let 
me  hear  it." 

But  before  Angelo  could  begin  his  little 
story,  Nolan  came  springing  up  the  steps,  and 
knew  in  a  word  all  they  had  to  tell. 

"Sit  down  now,  Nolan,  and  listen.  Angelo 
thinks  he  knows  something." 

"Well,  when  Carranza  got  in,  a  lot  of  Mex- 
icans had  to  get  out.  Political  refugees  they 
call  them.    Marie  is  one  of  them." 

"That  is  no  secret,"  said  Eveley.  "She  told 
me  that  herself.  And  it  is  nothing  to  her  dis- 
credit— rather  the  opposite  I  should  think." 


306  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

**Yes,  but  they  are  looking  ahead  to  the 
next  election.  That  guy  Obregon  has  prom- 
ised to  let  all  the  refugees  come  back  free 
and  easy  if  he  is  elected,  and  no  questions 
asked.  But  they've  got  such  a  lot  running 
for  president,  that  maybe  they  won't  elect 
anybody  and  then  Carranza  will  stick  on  him- 
self. And  so  the  refugees  on  this  side  are 
working  up  a  new  little  revolution  of  their 
own,  to  spring  on  Carranza  the  day  after  the 
election.  And  that  is  against  the  law,  and 
the  Secret  Service  is  on  to  it,  and  after  them 
hot  and  heavy." 

*The  Secret  Service,"  said  Eveley  slowly. 
"The  Secret  Service." 

She  crossed  the  room,  and  from  her  bag 
took  out  a  small  bit  of  steel  which  she  had 
carried  there  for  weeks. 

*The  Secret  Service,"  she  said  again,  and 
held  the  badge  tightly  in  her  hand. 

"What  have  you  there,  Eveley?"  asked 
Nolan. 

"Nothing,"  she  said,  gripping  it  so  tightly 
the  sharp  edges  cut  into  her  hand.  "Just  a 
little  souvenir — of  Marie.    That  is  all." 


SHE  DOUBTS  HER  THEORY       307 

"Well,  is  there  anything  else,  Angelo  ?" 

"That  guy  Hiltze  is  a  crook,  too.  He's 
what  you  call  a  Red.  He's  mixed  up  with 
all  the  funny  business  going  on." 

"Are  you  sure,  Angelo?  You  must  only 
tell  us  what  you  really  know." 

"Well,  they've  got  a  lot  of  crazy  shacks 
around  town,  and  they  hold  meetings.  My 
dad  goes  to  'em.  So  a  few  times  I  went,  too. 
This  guy  Hiltze  does  the  talking.  He's  got 
enough  money.  He  don't  have  to  sell  autos 
for  a  living,  he  does  that  for  a  blind,  just 
like  he  strings  ]Miss  Eveley  on  the  Amer- 
icanization hot-air  stulT." 

"Did  you  ever  hear  him  speak?"  asked 
Nolan. 

"Sure.  He  says  they  are  chasing  him  from 
cellar  to  garret,  from  mountain  to  desert. 
He  says  they  are  the  damned  rich,  and  they 
got  to  keep  him  harried  to  earth  so  they  can 
grind  the  laborers  under  their  heel.  He  gives 
'em  all  money  for  doing  things,  and  hauling 
stuff,  and  getting  things  across  the  border. 
I  was  there.  He  says  they  must  pray  God  to 
strengthen  them  to  fight  to  the  last  ditch.  He 


308  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

says  the  army  and  navy  are  the  slaves  of  the 
God  of  Money." 

"I  know  he  had  rather — advanced  ideas," 
said  Eveley  gravely.  **But  these  are  such 
troublous  times.  Every  one  feels  the  lack, 
and  the  need  in  the  social  life.  He  may  have 
gone  too  far — but  these  are  the  days  that  try 
one's  soul.    If  it  was  only  talk — " 

"Aw  gee,"  interrupted  Angelo.  "They 
ain't  got  no  room  to  talk.  I  know  all  about 
that  stuff.  I  was  over  there  with  the  rest 
of  'em,  and  I  know.  We  slept  on  straw,  and 
dressed  in  rags,  and  lived  like  dogs.  And 
they  come  to  a  decent  country,  and  get  soured 
because  they  ain't  fed  up  on  chicken  and  wine 
like  a  lord.  It's  a  dam'  sight  more  than  they 
ever  had  before,  and  the  Secret  Service  needs 
to  watch  'em.  For  they're  the  ones  that  did 
for  Russia — yes,  and  they're  doing  it  for 
Germany  now,  and  trying  it  on  Italy." 

The  Secret  Service — the  diagnostician  of 
social  unrest,  with  professional  finger  on  the 
pulse  of  the  foreign  element — had  that  finger 
touched  the  wrist  of  Marie  ? 

"But  this  isn't  finding  my  Marie,"  said 
Eveley.    "I  want  her." 


SHE  DOUBTS  HER  THEORY       309 

"Let's  call  Lieutenant  Ames,"  said  Nolan 
suddenly.  "I  rather  imagine  this  will  hit 
him." 

"Oh,  poor  Jimmy,"  cried  Eveley.  "He  told 
me  he  wanted  to  marry  her." 

Far  into  the  night,  they  puzzled  and  pon- 
dered, not  knowing  which  way  to  turn,  but 
all  in  their  love  of  Marie  resolved  that  she 
must  be  found  and  saved  again  from  the 
chaos.  The  next  day,  against  the  advice  of 
all  the  others,  Eveley  sent  word  to  Amos 
Hiltze  and  seemed  to  feel  some  comfort  in  his 
evident  surprise  and  perturbation. 

"I  can  not  understand  it,"  he  said.  "She 
was  so  happy,  and  loved  you  so  much.  I  will 
look  for  her.  She  may  have  taken  fright  at 
something — ^but  what  could  it  possibly  have 
been?" 

"Tell  her  I  do  not  care  what  has  happened, 
nor  what  she  fears.  She  must  come  to  me 
and  I  will  help  her." 

In  spite  of  the  insistence  of  Nolan,  Angelo 
and  Jimmy  Ames,  Eveley  would  have  given 
the  matter  into  the  hands  of  the  police,  trust- 
ing to  her  own  promises  and  her  own  stand- 
ing to  save  Marie  from  whatever  they  held 


310  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

against  her.  But  at  her  first  suggestion  of 
this  to  Amos  Hiltze,  he  took  a  most  positive 
stand  against  it. 

"If  you  do  that,  you  have  lost  her  forever. 
It  is  the  pohce  she  fears.  She  would  never 
forgive  you  for  putting  her  into  their  hands, 
even  if  you  could  afterward  extricate  her. 
You  must  not  dream  of  such  a  thing." 

So  Eveley  gave  it  up  and  tried  to  reconcile 
herself  to  patient  w^aiting,  and  to  prayers  of 
faith,  determined  to  believe  that  the  persist- 
ent search  going  on  in  all  sections  of  the 
town  would  be  effective,  and  believing  still 
more  fervently  that  God  must  return  to  her 
again  the  sister  she  had  learned  to  love. 

This  time,  because  Eveley  was  suffering 
no  one  connected  the  disappearance  of  Marie 
with  Eveley's  theory  of  duty.  And  to  her- 
self Eveley  made  no  claims,  not  even  for  her 
favorite  Exception. 

For  if  Marie  had  loved  her,  would  she  not 
have  left  at  least  one  word  of  sympathy,  and 
affection,  in  farewell?  Indeed,  if  she  had 
loved  her,  would  she  not  have  preferred  the 
investigation  of  the  Secret  Service  to  separa- 


SHE  DOUBTS  HER  THEORY       311 

tion?  For  Eveley  would  have  braved  every 
court  in  the  country  for  her  Kttle  foreign  sis- 
ter. 

She  tried  to  interest  herself  in  the  affairs 
of  her  friends,  as  of  old.  She  tried  to  return 
to  her  old  whimsical  routine  of  living  alone 
in  her  Cloud  Cote,  but  from  being  a  little  nook 
of  laughter  and  love,  it  became  ineffably 
dreary  and  dull.  And  Eveley  was  suffering 
not  only  because  her  love  had  been  slighted 
and  her  hospitality  abused,  but  because 
everything  she  had  undertaken  had  failed. 
Americanization — ^what  was  it  ?  For  to  Marie 
she  had  given  every  good  thing  in  her  power 
— and  Marie  had  used  her  as  long  as  she 
could  be  of  service,  and  then  had  gone  back 
to  her  own  life,  to  her  own  people. 


CHAPTER  XX 
SHE  PROVES  HER  PRINCIPLE 

ALL  of  Eveley's  friends,  realizing  the 
loneliness  and  the  sickness  of  heart 
which  possessed  her,  united  to  plan  little 
entertainments  and  bits  of  amusement  for 
her.  And  Eveley  accepted  their  plans  grate- 
fully, and  acted  upon  their  suggestions 
gladly,  but  the  bitterness  remained  in  her 
heart. 

"I  loved  that  girl,"  she  would  say  to  her- 
self. *'How  could  she  do  such  a  thing  to  any 
one  who  loved  her?  It  isn't  as  if  I  had  only 
tried  to  do  what  was  right  and  kind  by  her. 
She  owed  me  something  for  all  that  love." 

One  evening  she  went  to  Eileen's  for  a  rol- 
licking dinner  with  the  twins  in  clamorous 
evidence.  Eileen's  home  was  a  new  creation ; 
every  day,  she  said  frankly,  was  a  new  cycle 
of  life.  Her  years  of  sober,  studied  business 
had  not  at  all  prepared  her  for  the  raptures 
and  the  uncertainties  and  the  annoyances  and 
312 


SHE  PROVES  HER  PRINCIPLE      313 

the  thrills  of  a  household  that  had  young 
twins  in  it. 

"Billy  bosses  Betty  unmercifully,  and  I  do 
not  believe  in  the  dominance  of  men,"  she 
told  Eveley.  "And  Betty  charms  Billy  into 
submission,  and  I  do  not  approve  of  the  bland- 
ishments of  woman  upon  man.  And  yet  my 
sympathies  are  with  both  of  them,  and  I 
adore  them  both.  And  I  can  never  find  any- 
thing when  I  want  it,  and  when  I  do  find  it 
there  is  something  wrong  with  it,  and  they 
both  talk  at  once  and  I  have  to  talk  at  the 
same  time  or  I  never  get  anything  said,  and 
yet  we  have  wonderful  times." 

"You  are  certainly  doing  your  duty  by 
those  babies,"  said  Eveley  tentatively. 

Eileen  took  it  quickly.  "Um,  not  a  bit  of 
it.  I  am  just  fulfilling  the  desire  of  my  heart. 
So  you  may  take  it  that  I  am  proving  your 
theory  if  you  like." 

"At  least  you  are  proving  my  exception," 
said  Eveley,  with  a  smile. 

"What  is  the  exception  ?"  Eileen  questioned 
eagerly.  "It  seems  to  get  all  the  proving, 
doesn't  it?" 


314  EVE    TO   THE    RESCUE 

*Tt  used  to,"  said  Eveley  gravely.  "But 
I  have  lost  faith  in  it  for  myself.  It  worked 
for  everybody  else,  but  it  failed  for  me.  Now 
let's  talk  of  something  else." 

They  were  in  the  midst  of  a  merry  game 
with  the  children,  when  the  bell  rang,  and 
Eveley  was  called  to  the  door,  to  look  into  the 
face  of  Amos  Hiltze. 

*'You  have  found  Marie,"  she  cried  out  at 
once. 

"Yes.  She  is  at  the  ranch  in  the  mountains 
where  we  found  her  first.  She  is  in  trouble, 
and  sick.  I  told  her  I  would  come  for  you, 
but  I  suppose  you  can  not  leave  yet  ?" 

"Not  leave — when  Marie  is  sick  and  wants 
me?  Wait  until  I  get  my  wraps.  Shall  we 
go  in  my  car?" 

"Yes,  please.  I  was  up  at  the  Cote  for  you, 
and  Mrs.  Severs  said  you  were  here.  I  let  the 
taxi  go." 

Eveley 's  face  was  alight  with  joy,  and  her 
heart  sang  with  happiness.  Marie  had  been 
sick — it  had  not  been  cold  neglect  that  kept 
her  away  and  silent.  And  she  had  sent  for 
Eveley. 


SHE  PROVES  HER  PRINCIPLE     315 

"You  are  certainly  a  wonder,"  said  Amos 
Hiltze,  as  she  slipped  into  her  place  behind 
the  wheel,  and  he  took  his  seat  at  her  side. 

''You  do  not  know  how  happy  I  am/'  she 
cried,  turning  the  car  toward  the  country. 
*'You — do  get  so  awfully  fond  of  a  girl  like 
Marie,  don't  you?" 

"Yes,  of  course." 

"Is  she  very  sick  ?" 

"Not  very.  She  will  be  better  when  she 
sees  you." 

"Why  did  she  really  leave  me?" 

"Oh,  she  was  afraid  the  Secret  Service 
would  locate  her,  and  it  would  get  you  into 
trouble." 

"I  might  have  known  it  was  her  duty.  Wait 
till  I  get  my  hands  on  that  girl.  I'll  tell  her 
a  few  things  about  duty  that  will  astonish 
her." 

Already  they  were  wheeling  rapidly 
through  East  San  Diego,  and  when  a  motor- 
cycle pulled  up  beside  them,  Eveley  stopped 
with  a  gasp.  Of  course  she  had  been  speed- 
ing— a  thousand  miles  an  hour,  probably, 
though  it  had  seemed  like  crawling. 


316  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"I  am  so  sorry,  Officer,"  she  began  quickly. 
"But  I  have  to  hurry.  I  have  a  Httle  friend 
in  the  country  who  is  sick  and  needs  me." 

''Oh,  is  it  you.  Miss  Ainsworth?"  And 
the  officer  smiled.  ''I  did  not  recognize  you. 
That  is  all  right.  Your  car  is  a  Rolls,  isn't  it  ? 
We  are  looking  for  a  man  in  a  Rolls — ^but  I 
can  hardly  hold  you."  He  turned  his  pocket 
flash  upon  Amos  Hiltze. 

"This  is  my  friend,  Mr.  Hiltze,"  she  ex- 
plained. "I  think  you  do  not  want  him, 
either." 

"No,  I  think  not.  Yet  our  man  is  supposed 
to  have  come  this  way.  If  you  see  any  men 
on  foot,  or  any  one  in  trouble,  better  not  stop. 
We'll  have  a  man  out  that  way  pretty  soon." 

"Thank  you,"  said  Eveley.  "Good  night." 
And  again  they  were  on  their  way. 

"Poor  Mr.  Man  in  the  Rolls,"  she  said  after 
a  while.  "I  wonder  what  mischief  he  has 
been  into." 

"I  wonder." 

"I  hope  he  gets  away.  Perhaps  he  is  not  so 
bad  as  they  think,  and  may  do  better  next 
time.    Or  maybe  he  had  a  reason." 


SHE  PROVES  HER  PRINCIPLE     317 

"I  am  sure  of  that,"  said  Hiltze  with  some 
earnestness.  'There  is  always  a  reason,  I 
think." 

Through  La  Mesa,  through  El  Cajon,  they 
drove  in  silence  as  they  had  driven  once  be- 
fore, when  they  went  for  Marie  the  first  time. 
Only  then  Eveley  had  been  quivering  with 
anxiety  and  nervousness — and  nov/  it  was 
only  hope  and  joy.  But  was  it  only  hope  and 
joy?  For  she  realized  suddenly  that  her 
hands  were  gripping  the  wheel  with  nervous 
intensity,  and  that  she  was  shivering. 

"Are  you  cold?" 

"I  do  not  know,"  she  faltered. 

He  turned  slightly  in  his  seat,  and  reached 
for  a  rug. 

"A  disorderly  pile  on  the  floor  as  usual," 
he  said  with  a  slight  smile.  ''Don't  your 
friends  ever  put  the  rugs  back  on  the  rack, 
Eveley?" 

"No,  never,"  she  replied,  smiling,  too,  but 
gravely. 

He  tucked  the  rug  closely  about  her,  but 
she  still  shivered,  and  a  sense  of  dread  was 
heavy  upon  her. 


818  EVE   TO   THE   EESCUE 

When  they  came  at  last  to  the  branch  in 
the  road,  he  looked  carefully  about  in  every 
direction,  and  then  told  her  to  drive  quickly. 
Under  his  direction  she  took  the  car  far  back 
from  the  road  in  a  sheltered  place,  and 
stopped  the  engine. 

'Tlease  hurry,  v/ill  you  ?  I  have  not  Angelo 
with  me  this  time,  and  I  am  afraid." 

*'Eveley,  I  must  talk  to  you  first.  You 
know  I  love  you,  you  must  know  it.  You  have 
tried  to  discourage  me,  but  I  will  not  take 
discouragement.  I  shall  never  go  away  with- 
out you." 

"Are  you  going  away?" 

"Yes,  to-night.  Business  takes  me  away. 
I  am  going  to  South  America.  I  have  money 
— lots  of  money,  and  we  can  start  afresh  and 
do  well.    But  I  can  not  go  without  you." 

"Mr.  Hiltze,  it  is  impossible.  I  do  not  love 
you.    I  told  you  that  before." 

*'But  you  will  love  me.  If  you  come  away 
with  me,  and  take  time,  you  can  love  me.  I 
will  be  good  to  you,  and  not  hurry  you.  You 
must  let  yourself  go,  and  try." 


SHE  PROVES  HEU  PRINCIPLE     319 

"But  I  do  not  wish  to.  Love  should  not 
be  forced.  It  ought  to  come  spontaneously  of 
itself.    And  I  love  Nolan." 

"Damn  Nolan !  Oh,  I  don't  mean  that,  but 
— Eveley,  you  will  forget  him.  Just  come 
with  me,  and  give  yourself  time.  Marie  will 
go  with  us — " 

"Marie." 

"Yes,  she  has  promised  to  go  with  us,  to 
help  make  you  happy." 

"Then  she  is  not  sick?" 

"No,  not  sick." 

"You  only  brought  me  here  to — " 

"Yes,  Eveley.  I  am  sorry,  but  I  had  to. 
We  are  going  out  by  aeroplane  to-night,  and 
there  is  a  fishing  fleet  at  sea  waiting  to  pick 
us  up.  I  hated  to  trick  you,  but  it  was  my 
love  that  forced  it.  I  can  not  give  you  up. 
I  will  not.  Did  you  think  I  was  a  fool  to  be 
with  you,  and  know  your  loving  lovely  ways, 
and — and — " 

Suddenly  he  crushed  her  in  his  arms,  and 
for  a  moment  she  was  helpless.  Then  he  re- 
leased her. 


320  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"Your  bag  is  here — yes,  in  the  back  of  the 
car." 

*'Mybag?" 

"Yes,  I  took  Marie  to  the  Cote  this  after- 
noon and  she  packed  it  for  you — things  nec- 
essary until  you  can  shop  again." 

"Marie  did  that?" 

"Oh,  I  told  her  to.  I  told  her  you  wished 
it.  Oh,  yes,  I  lied,  but  I  would  do  worse  than 
that  for  you,  yes,  I  would  kill  for  you.  Now 
be  reasonable,  Eveley,  and  come  with  us 
nicely.  You  shall  have  all  the  time  you  wish. 
I  know  you  will  love  me." 

"Love  you.  Love  you  after  this!  I  hate 
you,  I  despise  you.    Do  not  say  you  love  me." 

"Eveley,  be  quiet,  this  will  do  no  possible 
good." 

"Then  it  was  you  they  were  looking  for, 
in  the  car  ?    You  are  a  common  criminal." 

"Not  a  criminal,  no,"  he  cried  furiously. 
"Yes,  they  wanted  me,  of  course.  You  should 
have  known  there  was  a  reason  why  a  man 
like  myself  should  live  as  I  have  done  here. 
But  we  are  not  criminals — we  are  advance 
agents  of  freedom." 


SHE  PROVES  HER  PRINCIPLE     321 

"Anarchists,"  she  interrupted,  in  a  cutting 
voice. 

''Some  time  there  must  be  justice  and 
equaUty  in  the  world — " 

"And  you  have  got  rich  by  preaching  law- 
lessness." 

"Eveley,  do  not  talk  like  that.  I — I  lose 
my  head — and  I  do  not  wish  to  frighten  you- 
Sit  quietly,  and  let  me  tell  you.  Peace  can 
come  only  through  warfare — and  out  of  the 
death  throes  of  an  old  world,  a  new  world  of 
peace  will — " 

"You  are  traitors." 

"Eveley,  you  know  I  was  in  the  service,  but 
there  must  be  a  union  of  the  free  men  of  the 
world  against  oppression — " 

"Do  not  make  stump  speeches  to  me.  I  will 
not  stand  for  it.  Justice  and  freedom  will 
come  to  the  world,  but  not  through  lying  and 
trickery  and  bloodshed.  Justice  must  come 
through  sympathy  and  love  and  comrade- 
ship." 

"It  did  not  get  you  far  with  Marie,  though, 
did  it?" 

"Marie." 


322  EVE   TO  THE   RESCUE 

"Certainly.  That  was  my  interest  in  her. 
Marie  was  working  with  us,  doing  what  she 
could  for  us,  for  what  we  could  do  for  her 
in  Mexico.  She  is  a  regular  traitor  if  you 
like,  putting  things  over  in  great  style,  on  you 
and  Nolan  and  Ames — the  whole  bunch  of 
you.  She  is  a  slick  little  devil.  But  I  fell — 
because  I  loved  you." 

Sudden  illumination  came  to  Eveley. 
"Then  that  is  why  she  left  me.  When  she 
learned  to  love  me,  she  would  not  profane  our 
friendship.    That  is  why  she  left." 

"She  left  because  the  cops  were  getting 
wise,  and  she  had  to  get  out  in  a  hurry  or  get 
pinched." 

"And  she  is  going  with  you^" 

"Sure.  She  will  be  the  idol  of  the  revolu- 
tionists for  what  she  has  done — ^they  will 
carry  her  about  on  a  tin  platter." 

"You  will  let  me  go  now,  Mr.  Hiltze,  please. 
But  tell  Marie  that  I  understand  everything, 
and  when  she  wishes  to  come  back  to  me, 
the  Cote  is  open.  It  was  only  a  mistaken 
loyalty  to  a  wrong  principle.  Please  go,  I 
want  to  hurry  home." 


"Please  let  me  go,"  she  pleaded. 


SHE  PROVES  HER  PRINCIPLE     323 

He  laughed  a  little.  ''Eveley,  you  are  going 
to  South  America  Vv'ith  me." 

In  a  sudden  panic  she  turned,  flinging  open 
the  door  of  the  car,  hoping  to  rush  away  into 
the  darkness,  but  his  arm  held  her. 

"You  will  love  me.  I  may  not  care  for 
your  Americanization,  but  I  love  you.  I  am 
going  to  be  good  to  you.  Don't  be  a  fool, 
Eveley,  it  will  do  you  no  good.  You've  got 
to  go." 

Struggling  was  in  vain,  as  Eveley  realized 
at  once,  and  she  subsided  quickly,  trying  to 
think.  The  thing  was  impossible.  It  could 
not  be.  Such  things  did  not  happen  any 
more — not  in  real  life  in  the  United  States. 
It  was  cruel,  preposterous,  unbelievable. 

"Please  let  me  go,"  she  pleaded.  "I  shall 
not  try  to  report  you,  you  can  get  away  with- 
out trouble.  But  let  me  go  home,  please.  I 
could  never  change  toward  you — I  am  not 
the  kind  that  changes." 

"I  shall  have  to  tie  you  for  a  few  minutes. 
I  am  sorry,  but  I  do  not  wish  you  to  go  to 
the  shack.  I  have  wasted  a  lot  of  time  trying 
to  reason  with  you.    Put  out  your  hands — 


324  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

yes,  that  way,  and  let  me  tie  them  to  the 
wheel.  I  hate  to  do  this — there  is  no  use  for 
you  to  yell,  Eveley,  for  no  one  can  hear,  so 
I  shall  not  gag  you.  Let  me  -wrrap  the  blan- 
ket about  you ;  it  is  very  cold.  Sit  still,  dear, 
and  do  not  shake  it  off.  I  love  you  very 
much.  We  are  going  to  start  the  world 
afresh  with  a  clean  slate,  and  leave  the  past 
behind.  The  future  shall  be  of  your  choos- 
ing, only  it  must  be  with  me." 

Then  he  went  away,  and  Eveley  began  a 
valiant  tugging  on  the  straps  that  bound  her. 

"Wait  a  minute,  Eveley,  I'll  cut  them," 
came  a  friendly  whisper,  and  Eveley  with  a 
cry  turned  to  look  into  Angelo's  face. 

"Sure,  I  come  along,"  he  said.  'T  saw  him 
up  at  the  house,  and  when  he  came  down  for 
you,  I  followed  his  taxi  on  my  bike.  And 
when  he  went  in  to  get  you,  I  got  into  the 
back  under  the  rugs.  Lucky  he  only  took  one 
rug  for  you,  or  he'd  got  hold  of  my  legs.  Gee, 
he  uses  good  straps." 

All  this,  while  Angelo  was  sawing  on  the 
straps  with  his  rusty  knife,  and  almost  before 
he  finished  talking,  Eveley  was  free. 


SHE  PROVES  HER  PRINCIPLE     325 

Like  a  flash  she  was  starting  the  engine. 

"Suppose  you  get  out  and  hide  a  while,  and 
let  me  scout  around,"  he  said.  *'l  hate  to 
leave  a  decent  sort  like  your  Marie  with  those 
cutthroats.  Maybe  I  can  get  hold  of  her." 

*Tes,  do  try.  I'll  hide  among  the  bushes 
for  fear  they  come  while  you  are  gone.  Be 
careful,  Angelo.  We  are  going  to  need  you." 

Eveley  waited  what  seemed  an  endless 
length  of  time,  crouching  almost  breathless 
under  the  shrubs.  But  finally  she  heard  light 
running  steps,  and  in  a  moment  Marie  was 
in  her  arms. 

"Oh,  my  poor  child,  they  told  me  you 
wanted  to  go.  And  did  they  tie  you — the 
cruel  straps?  You  are  free  now,  and  you 
will  go  back  to  your  Cote  and  be  happy.  But 
do  not  forget  your  poor  Marie.  And  never 
play  with  fire  again,  sweet;  in  the  end  it  al- 
ways bums.  American  women  never  know 
what  a  tempest  love  can  be.  Now,  kiss  Marie, 
and  say  your  forgive  her,  and  then  go 
quickly." 

"Marie,  come  with  me,"  begged  Eveley, 
clinging  to  her.  "You  must  not  go  with  them. 


326  EVE   TO   THE    RESCUE 

They  are  treacherous,  selling  their  honor  for 
money.  Do  not  trust  them.  Come  with  me. 
Nolan  and  I  will  take  care  of  you,  and  Nolan 
will  straighten  out  your  tangles  with  the 
law.  And  Jimmy  is  wild  for  you,  raging  all 
over  town  trying  to  fmd  you.  Please,  dear, 
let  all  the  ugly  past  lie  dead,  and  live  a  new 
life  with  us  here.  Oh,  I  can  not  let  you  go." 

"For  them  I  care  nothing,"  Marie  cried, 
with  a  smart  snap  of  her  fingers.  *'They  are 
dogs.  They  only  help  us  for  money,  and  they 
wish  only  to  embroil  the  world  in  war.  It  is 
no  love  for  us — ^but  they  are  cheap — ^we  buy 
them.  When  the  time  comes,  we  tramp  them 
under  our  feet.  Eveley,  if  you  wish  me,  I 
will  come." 

Then  in  a  moment  they  were  away,  the  car 
swinging  dizzily  down  the  steep  grade  rock- 
ing from  side  to  side. 

**How  did  you  get  Marie,  Angelo — you 
angel  ?"  asked  Eveley,  after  a  while. 

"They  were  all  running  around  moving 
things,  and  Marie  was  helping.  So  I  pitched 
in  and  helped  too.  When  I  walked  by  Marie 
she  understood  and  came.  And  they  did  not 


SHE  PROVES  HER  PRINCIPLE     327 

notice.  There  isn't  much  difference  between 
a  Wop  and  a  Greaser." 

"And  you  will  never  leave  me  again, 
Marie?" 

"I  am  all  through  with  hatred  and  strife, 
now.  I  want  only  a  home,  where  I  can  be 
happy,  and  live  as  you  and  I  have  lived.  That 
is  the  only  Americanization.  Talk  is  nothing. 
Social  service  is  a  game.  But  when  one 
makes  living  so  fine  that  every  one  in  the 
world  wants  to  live  that  way — then  it  is 
Americanization.    I  am  satisfied  now." 

"Say,  you'd  better  cut  the  talk  and  watch 
the  road,"  said  Angelo  suddenly.  *Tou've 
been  half  over  the  grade  a  dozen  times." 

*Tes,  I  wdll,"  promised  Eveley.  *'But  I 
must  hurry.  They  will  follow  us — will  they 
follow  us,  Marie?" 

"Oh,  surely,  when  they  miss  us.  They 
have  motorcycles.  Listen.  Hear  them  far 
back?  Of  course  they  would  follow." 

"Sit  tight,  Marie,  and  do  not  worry.  I 
know  this  road  all  right." 

"They  are  gaining  on  us,  dear.  Can  you 
do  better?" 


328  EVE   TO  THE   RESCUE 

But  Eveley  was  afraid  to  go  faster  on 
those  sharp  curves,  though  she  strained  her 
eyes  to  see  the  road  before  them. 

"We  are  nearly  to  Flynn  Springs,"  she 
said.   "We  must  be.  We  can  stop  there." 

"They  will  soon  be  up  with  us,"  said 
Angelo,  looking  back. 

"We  must  leave  the  car,  and  hide  in  the 
woods,"  said  Marie. 

"Oh,  I  am  afraid  to  leave  the  car." 

"The  woods  will  not  hurt  us.  It  is  only 
men  who  harm.  Come,  we  must.  If  they 
catch  us,  we  are  lost.  Pull  out  here  to  the 
left,  and  turn  off  the  lights.  They  may  pass 
us  in  the  darkness.  Take  the  key  with  you. 
And  hurry." 

Acting  upon  this  plan,  they  were  soon 
slipping  over  the  small  stones  and  pebbles 
down  a  shallow  gully  and  up  among  the  rocks 
and  shrubs  of  a  little  cliff. 

Already  the  tremendous  roar  of  the  mo- 
torcycles was  close  upon  them. 

"Quick,  Eveley,  behind  this  bush. — Lie 
down  fiat.  Yes,  all  right,  Angelo.   Sh,  quiet 


SHE  PROVES  HER  PRINCIPLE     329 

At  that  instant  the  motorcycles  whirled 
past — a  sudden  call  from  the  familiar  voice 
of  Amos  Hiltze,  and  with  a  great  tearing  and 
crashing  of  brakes,  the  cycles  stopped  and 
the  men  ran  back  to  the  car. 

"It  is  her  car,"  cried  Amos  Hiltze.  "They 
have  deserted  it.  They  must  be  very  close, 
we  shall  find  them  quickly.    You  go — " 

"We  can  not  find  them,"  said  a  new  author- 
itative voice.  "The  cops  may  be  here  any 
moment.  We've  got  to  get  away  to-night, 
or  it  is  everlastingly  too  late.  You  have  lost 
the  girl — lost  them  both.  Now  make  the  best 
of  it." 

And  one  motorcycle  was  started  again. 

"I'll  slash  their  tires  for  luck,"  said  Amos 
Hiltze.  "And  we  can  send  a  couple  of  men 
to  look  for  them.  Then  we  can  send  back 
for  them  later  on  if  they  find  them." 

Eveley  ground  her  teeth  at  the  ripping  of 
the  tires,  for  the  rubber  is  to  a  motorist  as 
a  baby  to  a  loving  mother.  But  in  a  moment 
came  the  sputter  and  roar  of  the  motors,  and 
the  men  had  gone  again  back  the  road  they 
had  come. 


330  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"We*ll  just  have  to  crawl  into  Flynn 
Springs  on  the  rims,  and  phone  for  Nolan. 
It  can  not  be  far." 

But  even  that  was  impossible,  for  with 
devilish  foresight,  Amos  Hiltze  had  taken  the 
timer  from  the  carburetor,  and  the  little  Rolls 
was  powerless. 

"We'll  walk  then,"  said  Eveley  bravely, 
and  hand  in  hand,  the  three  of  them  set  out 
on  the  rocky  winding  road  to  Flynn  Springs. 

"Nolan  will  not  waste  any  time  coming  for 
us,"  said  Eveley  confidently. 

"And  perhaps  Lieutenant  Ames  is  in  town, 
and  can  come  also,"  suggested  Marie  softly. 

Some  time  later,  wearily,  weakly,  they 
limped  into  Flynn  Springs,  and  Eveley  hur- 
riedly put  in  her  call. 

"Nolan?  It  is  Eveley.  I  am  at  Flynn 
Springs.  You  must  come  for  me,  and  bring 
Jimmy  Ames.  Yes,  Marie  is  with  me,  and 
Angelo. — Yes,  we  are  all  right.  And  have  a 
man  from  the  garage  with  extra  tires  and  a 
timer  for  the  carburetor.  No,  we  do  not  need 
the  police.  No-  guns  either.  Nolan,  your  voice 
is  sweeter  than  any  angel's." 


SHE  PROVES  HER  PRINCIPLE     331 

Then  they  went  into  a  small  room  where 
there  was  a  bed,  and  Eveley  took  off  her 
ruined  pumps,  and  bathed  her  burning  feet, 
and  they  fixed  their  hair,  and  had  hot  coffee, 
always  looking  at  each  other  with  tender 
eyes. 

"Will  you  never  go  back  on  me  again,  little 
sister?" 

And  Marie  kissed  her  in  answer. 

So  they  waited  patiently  for  the  men 
breaking  all  known  speed  laws  to  come  to 
them,  and  the  time  did  not  seem  long,  for 
they  lay  on  the  bed  together,  each  with  an 
arm  across  the  other's  shoulder.  And  in  the 
small  dark  hallway  outside,  Angelo  sat  be- 
fore their  door,  his  arms  clasped  around  his 
knees,  his  head  sunk  upon  his  breast,  sound 
asleep.  But  even  in  his  sleep  keeping  guard 
over  his  Americanizer  and  the  **little 
Greaser." 


CHAPTER  XXI 
HER   ONE    EXCEPTION 

ALL  evening  Kitty  had  been  trying  to  get 
Nolan  by  telephone,  always  being  told 
that  he  was  not  at  the  hotel  and  had  gone  to 
the  office,  and  then  hearing  that  the  office  line 
was  busy.  It  was  after  eight  when  she  fin- 
ally got  him  on  the  wire. 

"Nolan,  whoever  have  you  been  talking  to  ? 
If  it  was  anybody  else  besides  Eveley,  I  am 
going  to  tell.  I  have  been  trying  to  get  you 
all  evening.  I  want  you  to  come  over  here 
immediately.  Something  terrible  is  about  to 
happen,  and  you  must  stop  it." 

Nolan  hesitated.  "I  am  to  be  at  Eveley's 
at  nine,  but  if  you  promise  to  talk  fast  I  will 
come." 

Receiving  her  fervent  assurance,  he  im- 
mediately closed  his  desk,  and  in  ten  minutes 
Kitty  was  drawing  him  feverishly  into  her 
favorite  comer  of  the  living-room. 

*'NoIan,  you  could  never  guess  what  is  go- 
ing on." 

332 


HER  ONE  EXCEPTION  333 

**No,'*  he  admitted,  with  a  reminiscent 
smile.  "So  many  odd  things  have  been  going 
on  lately  that  I  confess  my  inability  as  a 
guesser." 

"Listen  to  this.  Eveley's  sister  has  fallen 
in  love  with  some  crazy  aviator,  and  is  going 
to  elope  with  him.  And  she  wants  Burton  to 
get  a  divorce  so  she  can  marry  him." 

Nolan  was  plainly  dumf  ounded  at  this  rev- 
elation. 

"And  that  is  not  the  worst.  She  is  going 
to  desert  those  two  children,  and  Eveley — 
You  know  Eve.  She  says  she  will  be  the  will- 
ing sacrifice  to  save  the  honor  of  the  family, 
and  has  decided  to  marry  Burton  herself,  to 
be  a  mother  to  Winifred's  children." 

"Preposterous!"  gasped  Nolan,  looking  into 
her  flushed  face  for  symptoms  of  delirium. 

"True,"  cam.e  the  grim  answer.  "But  we 
must  never  allow  such  a  bloodcurdling  thing 
to  happen.  It  wouldn't  be  right.  I  want  you 
to  go  right  over  to  Eveley's  as  fast  as  you 
can,  and  make  her  marry  you.  You  can  pre- 
tend you  do  not  know  anything  about  this, 
and  sweep  her  right  off  her  feet.    Get  her 


334  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

promise  before  she  knows  what  is  going  on, 
and  marry  her  before  she  reahzes  it.  Then 
perhaps  Winifred  will  come  to  her  senses  and 
not  do  this  outrageous  thing." 

"But,  Kitty—" 

"You  love  Eveley,  don't  you?" 

"Yes,  of  course,  but — " 

"Then  do  you  call  yourself  a  man,  and  yet 
stand  idly  by  and  see  the  woman  you  love 
sacrifice  her  life  for  her  sister's  honor — and 
- — er  babies — and — " 

"And  husband,"  he  said  gloomily.  "I  could 
stand  the  honor  and  the  babies,  but  I  object 
to  the  husband." 

"Of  course  you  do.  I  have  my  car  here, 
and  I  will  take  you  right  over  to  Eveley's 
and  you  can  settle  it  immediately." 

"I  do  not  believe  I  could  propose  before 
you,  Kitty,"  he  objected  shyly.  "I  could  not 
think  of  the  words." 

"I  shall  wait  in  the  car  until  it  is  over. 
Then  I  shall  come  sauntering  up  later  on  and 
wish  you  joy,  etc.,  and  Eveley  need  not  know 
I  had  a  thing  to  do  with  it.  Just  you  get  her 
promise,  and  I  shall  be  witness  for  you.   If 


HER  ONE  EXCEPTION  335 

she  tries  to  back  out  we  shall  sue  her  for 
breach  of  promise." 

''All  right,"  he  decided  suddenly.  "We 
certainly  can  not  submit  to  any  such  non- 
sense as  this.    Let's  go." 

All  the  way  to  the  Cloud  Cote  they  kept  up 
hearty  agreement  that  the  idea  was  utterly 
wild  and  preposterous,  and  that  Nolan  should 
never  stand  for  it.  As  she  stopped  the  car, 
two  doors  down  where  Eveley  could  not  see 
from  her  window,  Kitty  said : 

"Arnold  and  I  want  to  take  a  honeymoon 
trip  to  Yosemite  after  we  are  married,  and 
we  want  you  and  Eveley  to  get  married  in 
time  to  go  along.  It  is  so  much  more  fun 
when  everybody's  married." 

**Now,  you  fix  it  up  with  Eveley,  and  when 
you  are  through  pull  back  the  shade  in  the 
living-room,  and  I'll  take  it  for  a  sign  and 
come  up  to  make  my  call." 

So  Nolan  went  up  the  rustic  steps  to 
Eveley,  and  Kitty  settled  down  in  a  corner 
of  the  car.  For  thirty  minutes  she  chuckled 
gleefully  to  herself,  but  after  half  an  hour  she 
began  to  feel  that  he  was  decidedly  slow. 


836  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"I  could  be  engaged  to  a  dozen  people  in 
that  time,"  she  thought  impatiently.  "Oh, 
the  poky  thing.  But  I  suppose  they  are  wax- 
ing demonstrative,  and  he  has  forgotten  me." 

She  toyed  restlessly  with  the  keys  and 
screws  on  the  car,  still  watching  the  black 
window  in  the  Cloud  Cote  with  only  the  faint 
gleam  of  light  from  behind. 

"An  hour,"  she  cried  at  last  furiously.  "If 
that  isn't  the  limit!  I  have  a  notion  to  go 
right  home,  and  let  him  settle  it  as  best  he 
can — ^but  I  do  want  to  see  how  Eveley  takes 
it.  Oh,  well,  I  shall  give  him  fifteen  minutes 
more,  and  then  if  he  has  not  signaled  111 
go  up  and  see  for  myself." 

So  she  waited  another  uneasy  quarter  of  an 
hour,  and  then  banged  stormily  out  of  the  car 
and  up  the  rustic  steps.  Her  sharp  tap 
brought  a  sudden  scurry  and  scramble  from 
within,  but  Kitty  did  not  wait  for  a  sum- 
mons. She  drew  back  the  portieres  and 
climbed  in,  uninvited. 

Eveley  was  standing  flushed  and  brilliant 
in  the  center  of  the  room,  trying  to  tuck  up 
badly  straying  curls,  and  Nolan  was  adjust- 


HER  ONE  EXCEPTION  337 

ing  himself  to  the  davenport  with  an  air  of 
studied  ease. 

''Well,  Kitty,"  cried  Eveley  nervously. 
'Why  didn't  you  phone  you  were  coming 
over?" 

"You  do  not  seem  any  too  glad  to  see  me," 
said  Kitty  rather  peevishly,  and  then  at  their 
flushed  and  shining  faces,  she  laughed.  "My, 
how  happy  you  look !  Just  like  newlyweds — 
or  something." 

"Yes — something,"  said  Eveley.  She 
flashed  a  questioning  look  at  Nolan,  and  re- 
ceived a  reassuring  nod.  "Nolan  and  I  are 
engaged,  Kitty." 

"Really,"  cried  Kitty.  "After  all  these 
years.  How  surprising."  She  put  her  arms 
around  Eveley  lovingly.  'When  did  all  this 
happen  ?" 

"Last  night,  coming  down  from  Flynn 
Springs,"  said  Eveley.  "We — we  had  a  whole 
car  full  of  it." 

"Last  night!"  Kitty  quickly  disengaged 
herself  from  Eveley's  arm  and  looked  sharT>- 
ly  at  Nolan,  smiling  in  great  contentment  on 
the  davenport.   "Last  night  ?" 


338  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

"Yes,  last  night.  It  was  an  awfully  big 
night  all  around,  wasn't  it,  Nolan?" 

"It  was  for  me,"  he  said,  coming  over  and 
taking  Eveley's  hand  in  his. 

"Last  night,"  Kittv  repeated  again,  glar- 
ing intently  at  Nolan. 

He  nodded. 

"Then  you  knew  I  was  lying  all  the  time." 

"Well,  since  Eveley  and  I  had  luncheon 
with  Winifred  and  Burton  to-day  to  announce 
our  engagement, — yes,  I  may  say  that  I  was 
fairly  well  assured  you  were  lying.  They 
seemed  on  their  usual  tender  terms  at  noon." 

"What  are  you  two  talking  about?"  won- 
dered Eveley. 

Kitty  drew  her  small  hat  over  her  ears 
with  a  vicious  tug. 

"But  we  shall  be  glad  to  motor  to  Yosemite 
with  you  and  Arnold  this  summer,"  Nolan 
went  on  pacifically,  "we  think  it  will  be  great 
sport.  We  asked  Marie  and  Jimmy  Ames  to 
go  along.  They  are  going  to  be  married  to- 
morrow. They  are  in  Marie's  room  now,  so 
go  in  and  congratulate  them  if  you  like.    But 


HER  ONE  EXCEPTION  339 

do  not  bring  them  out  here,  because  we  are 
a  crowd  ah^eady." 

"I  am  going  home,  anyhow,  if  you  mean 
me,"  she  said  pettishly.  She  looked  at  Eveley. 
"I  suppose  you  think  it  is  very  clever  for  you 
to  be  engaged  to  Nolan  twenty-four  hours 
without  notifying  me,  after  all  the  trouble  I 
have  taken  in  the  last  five  years  to  bring  it 
about.  And  as  for  you,  Nolan,  I  think  you 
have  a  lot  of  courage  to  marry  a  woman  who 
openly  and  notoriously  refuses  to  do  her  duty 
in  any  shape,  size  or  form.  I  call  it  a  pretty 
big  risk,  myself."  She  clambered  crossly 
through  the  window.  ^'Congratulations,"  she 
called  back  snappily.  And  again,  from  half- 
way down  the  stairs:  "And  we  shall  hold 
you  to  the  Yosemite  bargain,  too." 

Then  Nolan  took  Eveley  in  his  arms  again 
and  kissed  her.  ''It  may  be  pretty  risky,"  he 
said  tenderly.  "A  wife  who  steels  her  heart 
against  her  duty — " 

Eveley  smiled  into  his  eyes.  "Don't  v/crry. 
The  One  Exception  will  save  you.  I  still 
claim  that  duty  isn't  the  biggest  thing  in  the 


340  EVE   TO   THE   RESCUE 

world.  And  hasn't  my  theory  held  good?  Pa- 
triotic duty  could  not  Americanize  Angelo 
nor  Marie,  nor  anybody  else.  And  filial  duty 
could  not  make  the  Severs  live  happily  with 
the  Father-in-law.  And  domestic  duty  could 
not  bring  Miriam  and  Lem  Landis  into  har- 
mony. But,  there  was  something  else  big 
enough  to  work  all  the  miracles,  and  it  was 
the  Big  Exception." 

"Yes,  tell  me,  Eveley — the  Big  Exception 
that  is  Everybody's  Duty — what  is  it?" 

"Well,"  she  said,  snuggling  a  little  closer 
into  his  arms,  "I  believe  it  is  everybody's 
duty  to  love  somebody  else  Vv^ith  all  his  heart 
and  mind  and  soul  and  body.  And  that  is 
what  has  worked  all  the  transformations  for 
our  friends.  And  it  will  protect  you,  Nolan — 
for  I  do." 

Nolan  kissed  her  again.  "Then  it  is  no 
risk  at  all,"  he  whispered,  laughing  tenderly. 
"Don't  try  to  do  your  duty  by  me — just  go 
on  loving  me  like  this." 

rHE  END 


ETHEL    M.    DELL'S    NOVELS 


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THE  LAMP  IN  THE  DESERT 

The  scene  of  this  splendid  story  is  laid  in  India  and 
tells  of  the  lamp  of  love  that  continues  to  shine  through 
all  sorts  of  tribulations  to  final  happiness. 

GREATHEART 

The  story  of  a  cripple  whose  deformed  body  conceals 
a  noble  soul. 

THE  HUNDREDTH  CHANCE 

A   hero  who  worked  to  win    even  when  there  was  only 
a  hundredth  chance." 

THE  SWINDLER 

The  story  of  a  **bad  man's*'  soul  revealed  by  a 
woman's  faith. 

THE  TIDAL  WAVE 

Tales  of  love  and  of  women  who  learned  to  know  the 
true  from  the  false. 

THE   SAFETY  CURTAIN 

A  very  vivid  love  story  of  India.  The  volume  also 
contains  four  other  long  stories  of  equal  interest. 


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ELFANOR  H.  PORTER'S  NOVELS 

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JUST  DAVID 

The  tale  of  a  loveable  boy  and  the  place  he  comes  to 
fill  in  the  hearts  of  the  gruff  farmer  folk  to  whose  care  he 
is  left. 

THE  ROAD  TO  UNDERSTANDING 

A  compelling  romance  of  love  and  marriage. 

OH,  MONEY  !   MONEY  ! 

Stanley  Fulton,  a  wealthy  bachelor,  to  test  the  disposU 
tions  of  his  relatives,  sends  them  each  a  check  for  ;^100,- 
000,  and  then  as  plain  John  Smith  comes  among  them  to 
watch  the  result  of  his  experiment. 

SIX  STAR  RANCH 

A  wholesome  story  of  a  club  of  six  girls  and  their  sum- 
mer on  Six  Star  Ranch. 

DAWN 

The  story  of  a  blind  boy  whose  courage  leads  hina 
through  the  gulf  of  despair  into  a  final  victory  gained  by 
dedicating  his  life  to  the  service  of  blind  soldiers. 

ACROSS  THE  YEARS 

Short  stories  of  our  own  kind  and  of  our  own  people. 
Contains  some  of  the  best  writing  Mrs.  Porter  has  done. 

THE  TANGLED  THREADS 

In  these  stories  we  find  the  concentrated  charm  and 
tenderness  of  all  her  other  books. 

THE  TIE  THAT  BINDS 

Intensely  human  stories  told  with  Mrs.  Porter's  won- 
derful talent  for  warm  and  vivid  character  drawing. 

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THE  NOVELS  OF 
GRACE    LIVINGSTON    HILL     LUTZ 

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THE  BEST  MAN 

Through  a  strange  series  of  adventures  a  youn?  man  finds 
himself  propelled  up  the  aisle  of  a  church  and  married  to  a 
strange  girl. 

A  VOICE  IN  THE  WILDERNESS 

On  her  way  West  the  heroine  st'^ps  off  by  mistake  at  a  lonely 
watertank  into  a  maze  of  thrilling  events. 

THE  EVCHANTED  BARN 

Every  member  of  the  family  will  enjoy  this  spirited  chronicle 
of  a  young  girl's  resourcefulness  and  pluck,  and  the  secret  of 
the  '  *  enchanted ' '  barn. 

THE  WITNESS 

The  fasf  inating  story  of  the  enormous  change  an  incident 
wrought  in  a  man's  life. 

MARCIA  SCHUYLER 

A  picture  of  ideal  girlhood  set  in  the  time  of  full  skirts  and 
poke  bonnets. 

LP,   MICHAEL  ! 

A  story  of  unfailing  appeal  to  all  who  love  and  understand  boys. 

THE  MAN  OF  THE  DESERT 

An  intensely  moving  love  story  of  a  man  of  the  desert  and  a 
girl  of  the  East  pictured  against  the  background  of  the  Far  West. 

PHOEBE  DEANE 

A  tense  and  charming  love  story,  told  with  a  grace  and  a  fer- 
vor with  which  only  Mrs.  Lutz  could  tell  it. 

DAWN  OF  THE  MORNING 

A  romance  of  the  last  century  with  all  of  its  old-fashioned 
charm.  A  companion  volume  to  "  Marcia  Schuyler''  and 
"  Phoebe  Deane.'  * 


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JAMES   OLIVER  CURWOOD'S 

STORIES  OF  ADVENTURE 

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THE  RIVERAS  END  " 

A  story  of  the  Royal  Mounted  Police. 
THE  GOLDEN  SNARE 

Thrilling  adventures  in  the  Far  Northland. 
NOMADS  OF  THE  NORTH 

The  story  of  a  bear-cub  and  a  dog. 
KAZAN 

The  tale  of  a  "quarter-strain  wolf  and  three-quarters  htisky"  torn 
between  the  call  of  the  human  and  his  wild  mate. 

BAREE,  SON  OF  KAZAN 

The  story  of  the  son  of  the  blind  Grey  Wolf  and  the  gallant  part 
he  played  in  the  lives  of  a  man  and  a  woman. 

THE  COURAGE  OF  CAPTAIN  PLUM 

The  story  of  the  King  of  Beaver  Island,  a  Mormon  colony,  and  his 
battle  with  Captain  Plum. 

THE  DANGER  TRAIL 

A  tale  of  love,  Indian  vengeance,  and  a  mystery  of  the  North. 
THE  HUNTED  WOMAN 

A  tale  of  a  great  fight  in  the  "  valley  of  gold"  for  a  woman. 

THE  FLOWER  OF  THE  NORTH 

The  story  of  Fort  o'  God,  where  the  wild  flavor  of  the  wilderness 
is  blended  with  the  courtly  atmosphere  of  France. 

THE  GRIZZLY  KING 

The  story  of  Thor,  the  big  grizzly. 
ISOBEL 

A  love  story  of  the  Far  North. 
THE  WOLF  HUNTERS 

A  thrilling  tale  of  adventure  in  the  Canadian  wilderness. 
THE  GOLD  HUNTERS 

The  story  of  adventure  in  the  Hudson  Bay  wilds. 
THE  COURAGE  OF  MARGE  O^DOONE 

Filled  with  exciting  incidents  in  the  land  of  strong  men  and  women, 
BACK  TO  GOD'S  COUNTRY 

A  thrilling  story  of  the  Far  North.  The  great  Photoplay  was  mad« 
from  this  book. 

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KATHLEEN   NORRIS'  STORIES 

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SISTERS.   Frontispiece  by  Frank  Street. 

The  California   Redwoods   furnish   the   background  for  this 

beautiful  story  of  sisterly  devotion  and  sacrifice. 

POOR.  DEAR.   MARGARET  KIRBY. 
Frontispiece  by  George  Gibbs. 

A  collection  of  delightful  stories,  including  "Bridging  the 
Yea-s"  and  "The  Tide-Marsh."  This  story  is  now  shown  in 
moving  pictures. 

JOSSELYN'S  WIFE.   Frontispiece  by  C.  Allan  Gilbert. 

The  story  of  a  beautiful  woman  who  fought  a  bitter  fight  tor 
happiness  and  love. 

MARTIE.  THE  UNCONQUERED. 
Illustrated  by  Charles  E.  Chambers. 
The  triumph  of  a  dauntless  spirit  over  adverse  conditions. 

THE  HEART  OF  RACHAEL. 


Frontispiece  by  Charles  E.  Chambers. 

An  interesting  story  of  divorce  and  the  problems  that  come 
with  a  second  marriage. 

THE  STORY  OF  JULIA  PAGE. 
Frontispiece  by  C.  Allan  Gilbert. 

A  sympathetic  portrayal  of  the  quest  of  a  normal  girl,  obscure 
and  lonely,  for  the  happiness  of  life. 

SATURDAY'S  CHILD.    Frontispiece  by  F.  Graham  Cootes. 

Can  a  girl,  born  in  rather  sordid  conditions,  lift  herself  through 
sheer  determination  to  the  better  things  for  which  her  soul 
hungered  ? 

MOTHER.    Illustrated  by  F.  C.  Yohn. 

A  story  of  the  big  mother  heart  that  beats  in  the  background 
of  every  girl's  life,  and  some  dreams  which  came  true. 

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BOOTH     TARKINGTON'S 

NOVELS 


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SEVENTEEN.    Illustrated  by  Arthur  William  Brown. 

No  one  but  the  creator  of  Penrod  could  have  portrayed 
the  immortal  young  people  of  this  story.  Its  humor  is  irre- 
sistible and  reminiscent;  of  the  time  when  the  reader  was 
Seventeen. 

PENROD.    Illustrated  by  Gordon  Grant. 

This  is  a  picture  of  a  boy's  heart,  full  of  the  lovable,  hu- 
morous, tragic  things  which  are  locked  secrets  to  most  older 
folks.    It  is  a  finished,  exquisite  work. 

PENROD  AND  SAM.  Illustrated  by  Worth  Brehm. 

Like  "  Penrod ''  and  "  Seventeen,"  this  book  contains 
some  remarkable  phases  of  real  boyhood  and  some  of  the  best 
stories  of  juvenile  prankishness  that  have  ever  been  v^Titten, 

THE  TURMOIL.    Illustrated  by  G.  E.  Chambers, 

Bibbs  Sheridan  is  a  dreamy,  imaginative  youth,  who  re- 
volts against  his  father's  plans  for  him  to  be  a  servitor  of 
big  businej^s.  The  love  of  a  fine  girl  turns  Bibb's  life  from 
failure  to  success. 

THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  INDIANA.    Frontispiece. 

A  stoiy  of  love  and  politics, — more  especially  a  picture  of 
a  country  editor's  life  in  Indiana,  but  the  charm  of  the  book 
lies  in  the  love  interest. 

THE  FLIRT.    Illustrated  by  Clarence  F.  Underwood. 

The  "  I^'lirt,"  the  younger  of  two  sisters,  breaks  one  girl's 
engagement,  drives  one  man  to  suicide,  causes  the  miuder 
of  another,  leads  another  to  lose  his  fortune,  and  in  the  end 
marries  a  stupid  and  unpromising  suitor,  leaving  the  really 

worthy  one  to  maiTy  her  sister. 

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THE  NOVELS  OF 

MARY  ROBERTS    RINEHART 

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DANGEROUS  DAYS.  ~ 


A  brilliant  story  of  married  life.  A  romance  of  fine  purpose  and 
stirring  appeal. 

THE  AMAZING  INTERLUDE. 

Illustrations  by  The  Kinneys. 

The  story  of  a  great  love  which  cannot  be  pictured— an  interlude 
— amazing,  romantic. 

LOVE  STORIES. 

This  book  is  exactly  what  its  title  indicates,  a  collection  of  lovo 
affairs — sparkling  with  humor,  tenderness  and  sweetness. 

"K."    Illustrated. 

K.  I_>eMoyne,  famous  surgeon,  goes  to  live  in  a  little  town  where 
beautiful  Sidney  Page  lives.  She  is  in  training  to  become  a  nurce. 
The  joys  and  troubles  of  their  young  love  are  told  with  keen  and 
sympathetic  appreciation. 

THE  MAN  IN  LOWER  TEN. 

Illustrated  by  Howard  Chandler  Christy. 

An  absorbing  detective  story  woven  around  the  mysterious  death 
of  the  "  Man  in  Lower  Ten." 

WHEN  A  MAN  MARRIES. 

Illustrated  by  Harrison  Fisher  and  Mayo  Bunker. 

A  young  artist,  whose  wife  had  recently  divorced  him,  finds  that 
his  aunt  is  soon  to  visit  him.  The  aunt,  who  cont>ributes  to  the 
family  income,  knows  nothing  of  the  domestic  upheaval.  How  th?, 
young  man  met  the  situation  is  entertainingly  told. 

THE  CIRCULAR  STAIRCASE.  Illustrated  by  Lester  Ralph. 

The  occupants  of  "Sunnyside"  find  the  dead  body  of  Arnold 
Armstrong  on  the  circular  staircase.  Following  the  murder  a  bank 
failure  is  announced.  Around  these  two  events  is  woven  a  plot  of 
absorbing  interest. 

THE  STREET  OF  SEVEN  STARS.  (Photoplay  Edition.) 

Harmony  Wells,  studying  in  Vienna  to  be  a  great  violinist,  sud- 
denly realizes  that  her  money  is  almost  gone.  She  meets  a  young 
ambitious  doctor  who  offers  her  chivalry  and  sympathy,  and  together 
with  vorld-wom  Dr.  Anna  and  Jimmie,  the  waif,  they  share  their 
love  and  slender  means. 


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ZANE  GREY'S  NOVELS 

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THE  MAN  OF  THE  FOREST 

THE  DESERT  OF  WHEAT 

— ___ .] 

THE  U.  P.  TRAIL 
WILDFIRE 

THE  BORDER  LEGION 
THE  RAINBOW  TRAIL 
THE  HERITAGE  OF  THK  DESERT 
RIDERS   OF  THE  PURPLE  SAGE 
THE  LIGHT  OF  WESTERN  STARS 
THE  LAST  OF  THE  PLAINSMEN 
THE  LONE  STAR  RANGER 
DESERT  GOLD 
BETTY  ZANE 

«  Xc  iK  *  «  «  4( 

LAST  OF  THE  GREAT  SCOUTS 

The  life  story  of  "Buffalo  Bill"  by  his  sister  Helen  Cody 
Wetmore,  with  Foreword  and  conclusion  by  Zane  Grey. 

ZANE  GREY'S  BOOKS  FOR  BOYS 

KEN   WARD  IN  THE  JUNGLE 
THE  YOUNG  LION  HUNTER 
THE  YOUNG  FORESTER 
THE  YOUNG  PITCHER 
THE  SHORT  STOP 

THE  RED-HEADED  OUTFIELD  AND  OTHER 
BASEBALL  STORIES 

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STORIES  OF  RARE  CHARM  BY 

GENE   STRATTQN-PORTER 

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MICHAEL  O'HALLORAN,      Illustrated  by  Frances  Rogers. 

Michael  is  a  quick-witted  little  Irish  newsboy ,  living  in  Northern 
Indiana.     He  adopts  a  deserted  little  girl,  a  cripple.     He  also  as- 
sumes the  responiiibility  of  leading  the  entire  rural  community  up- 
ward and  onward, 
LADDIE.      Illustrated  by  Herman  Pfeifer. 

This  is  a  bright,  cheery  tale  with  the  scenes  laid  In  Indiana.  The 
story  is  told  by  Little  Sister,  the  youngest  member  of  a  large  family, 
but  it  is  concerned  not  so  iiiuch  with  childish  doings  as  with  the  love 
affairs  of  older  members  of  the  family.  Chief  among  them  is  that 
of  Laddie  and  the  Princess,  an  English  girl  who  has  come  to  live  in 
the  neighborhood  and  about  whose  family  there  hangs  a  mystery. 
THE  HARVESTER.      Illustrated  by  W.  L.  Jacobs. 

"The  Harvester,"  is  a  man  of  the  woods  and  fields,  and  if  the 
book  had  nothing  in  it  but  the  splendid  figure  of  this  man  it  would 
be  notable.     But  when  the  Girl  comes  to  his  "  Medicine  Woods," 
there  begins  a  romance  of  the  rarest  idyllic  quality. 
FRECKLES.      Illustrated. 

Freckles  is  a  nameless  waif  when  the  tale  opens,  but  the  way  in 
which  he  takes  hold  of  life  ;  the  nature  friendships  he  forms  in  the 
great  Limberlost  Swamp  ;  the  manner  in  which  everyone  who  meets 
him  succumbs  to  the  charm  of  his  engaging  personality  ;  and  hid 
love-story  with  '*  The  Angel  "  are  full  of  real  sentiment, 
A  GIRL  OF  THE  LIMBERLOST.    ^Illustrated. 

The  story  of  a  girl  of  the  Michigan  woods ;  a  buoyant,  loveable 
type  of  the  self-reliant  American.  Her  philosophy  is  one  of  love  and 
kindness  towards  all  things  ;  her  hope  is  never  dimmed.  And  by 
the  sheer  beauty  of  her  soul,  and  the  purity  of  her  vision,  she  wins  from 
barren  and  unpromising  surroundings  those  rewards  of  high  courage, 
AT  THE  FOOT  OF  THE  RAINBOW.      Illustrations  in  -olors. 

The  scene  of  this  charming  love  story  is  laid  in  Central  Indiana. 
The   story  is  one  of  devoted  friendship,  and  tender  self-sacrificing 
love.     The  novel  is  brimful  of  the  most  beautiful  word  painting  of 
nature,  and  its  pathos  and  tender  sentiment  will  endear  it  to  all. 
THE  SONG  OF  THE  CARDINAL.      Profusely  illustrated. 

A  love  ideal  of  the  Cardinal  bird  and  his  mate,  told  with  delicacy 
and  humor. 


Grosset  &  Dunlap,        Publishers,        New  York 


EDGAR  RICE  BURROUGH'S 
NOVELS 

May  be  had  wherever  books  are  sold.       Ask  for  Grosset  &  Dunlap's  list. 

TARZAN  THE  UNTAMED 

Tells  of  Tarzan's  return  to  the  life  of  the  ape-man  in 
his  search  for  vengeance  on  those  who  took  from  him  his 
wife  and  home. 

JUNGLE  TALES  OF  TARZAN 

Records  the  many  wonderful  exploits  by  which  Tarzan 
proves  his  right  to  ape  kingship. 

A  PRINCESS  OF  MARS 

Forty-three  million  miles  from  the  earth — a  succession 
of  the  weirdest  and  most  astounding  adventures  in  fiction. 
John  Carter,  American,  finds  himself  on  the  planet  Mars, 
battling  for  a  beautiful  woman,  with  the  Green  Men  of 
Mars,  terrible  creatures  fifteen  feet  high,  mounted  on 
horses  like  dragons. 

THE  GODS  OF  MARS 

Continuing  John  Carter' s  adventures  on  the  Planet  Mars, 
in  which  he  does  battle  against  the  ferocious  * 'plant  men," 
creatures  whose  mighty  tails  swished  their  victims  to  instant 
death,  and  defies  Issus,  the  terrible  Goddess  of  Death, 
whom  all  Mars  worships  and  reveres. 

THE  WARLORD  OF  MARS 

Old  acquaintances,  made  in  the  two  other  stories,  reap- 
pear. Tars  Tarkas,  Tardos  Mors  and  others.  There  is  a 
happy  ending  to  the  story  in  the  union  of  the  Warlord, 
the  title  conferred  upon  John  Carter,  with  Dejah  Thoris. 

THUVIA,  MAID  OF  MARS 

The  fourth  volume  of  the  series.  The  story  centers 
around  the  adventures  of  Carthoris,  the  son  of  John  Car- 
ter and  Thuvia,  daughter  of  a  Martian  Emperor. 

GROSSET  &  DUNLAP,  Publishers,  NEW  YORK 


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